First Lines
First the kettle must come to a rolling boil. One or two bubbles won’t do. Add a small amount, no more than a three-second pour, to Grandma’s tarnished silver pot. Swirl the water so that it rises halfway. Inhale the steam. Discard.
Be quick about it. Don’t think about her face as you said goodbye. Rheumy eyes and sallow skin. The scent of medicine and mint lozenge. Perfumed rot.
Use what is at hand.
The Journal
Bartleby Snopes takes its name from two wonderful characters in American Literature. Our inspiration and love for short fiction comes from Herman Melville’s Bartleby, The Scrivener and William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning.”