Deniers

by Jeff Friedman

They say it didn’t happen. They deny the fire and the captured building, the shattered glass, the broken doors, and the ransacked rooms. They say there were no weapons, no bodies, and the faded blood stains were from long ago. They heard laughter, not the calls to war, not the painful cries of a man being crushed or trampled. There were only bright skies and sun, only cherry blossoms and songs. When they looked out the windows, all they could see were loving faces and clean white air.

6S

Jeff Friedman’s 8th book, The Marksman, was recently published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. Two of his micro stories were selected for Best Microfiction 2021. Friedman’s poems, mini stories and translations have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry, Poetry International, New England, Review, Flash Fiction Funny, American Journal of Poetry, and The New Republic. Meg Pokrass and Friedman’s co-written collection of fabulist microfictions will be published by Pelekinesis in 2022.