We're thinking of carousels and candyfloss this evening. Oh, to be at a fair. Oh, to get tempted by the lights, the noise, the food, only to forget your name and living there forever. Bliss. For another fair... "Evening at the County Fair" by Laura M Puhl crowcrosskeys.com/2025/11/12/e...

Sometimes the tower ends up standing beside the sea. Usually when the tower craves salt. One mustn't ignore the cravings of uncanny architecture. On the sea and salt and daughters, today's narrative poem... "The Salt in My Bloodline" by Rowan Tate crowcrosskeys.com/2025/11/08/t...

Don't use the taps in the tower. Something is living in the plumbing and we can never quite predict what will pour out; this morning, it was pennies. This evening, it's today's short story—word by word. "The Witch's Daughter" by Alexandra Wingo crowcrosskeys.com/2025/11/05/t...

There are messages all over the walls of the tower. We're not certain who put them there or what they mean or who they're for. It's better to pretend they don't exist. Why not read today's flash instead? "Names Set in Stone" by @jenoliverwriter.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/11/01/n...

Outside, we can hear the sounds of trees being felled. There isn't a tree for miles, but we hear it still. We are disconcerted. We're going to read today's poem and avoid thinking about it. "After the before, we take care of the wounds" by SK Grout crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/29/a...

My short story “The Last and First Loves of Hayrum Bellmaker” is now up at Crow & Cross Keys! 🖤

My haunted house/fairy tale hybrid in @crowkeys.bsky.social. crowcrosskeys.com/2025/07/19/a...

Something is chiming in the tower this evening. We've looked everywhere but we still can't find it. What we can find is today's short story... "The Last and First Loves of Hayrum Bellmaker" by @mimulus.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/25/t...

My story, “Patchwork Boy,” is now available to read at Crow & Cross Keys. I am so happy that this piece found such a loving home. Thank you again to @keychild.bsky.social for being an editor extraordinaire! 🪡

I’ve spent a lifetime not only working in cities, but designing and building their monuments to the sky. “The City Asks for More” is a poem about what we give to the city, and what it keeps. About exhaustion, beauty, and the small rebellions that still sing. First published in @crowkeys.bsky.social

You might not have noticed, but the tower isn't just made of stone. Look closely and you'll find a bit of everything cobbled together. Not unlike the subject of today's flash fiction... "Patchwork Boy" by @jsbrevik.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/22/p...

“The City Asks for More” is a poem about what we give to the city, and what it keeps. About exhaustion, beauty, and the small rebellions that still sing. Grateful to the @crowkeys.bsky.social editorial team for publishing my poem, now available on my Substack.

My poem, “Walking Past the End,” published in @crowkeys.bsky.social . A huge thank you to the editors.

Don't worry about the noises you hear behind you. It's safe here, we promise. As long as you don't look. Look instead at today's poem... "Walking Past the End" by @samaureli.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/18/w...

My short story “The Gravedigger’s Godling” is up on @crowkeys.bsky.social! It is about parenthood, choices, and demigods. crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/15/t...

In the tower, we find many gifts from small gods. We're not sure how they find us, but they always do. Today's story also features gifts and gods. Read it, won't you? "The Gravedigger's Godling" by @wisdomofthesea.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/15/t...

FFer Read of the Day: "Only Carrion" by @avadevries.bsky.social at @crowkeys.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/05/28/o...

We're going to let the title of this one speak for itself. We're obsessed. "Let go, the anglerfish cries to her male protuberance, with whom she shares organs" by C.K. Liu crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/11/l...

October is, predictably, one of our favourite months. Here at the tower, we watch the trees change from our windows. We read poetry as the leaves fall. Read it with us? "(the skin of) October" by Robin Steve crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/08/t...

We seek solitude in places of nature: under ancient trees, inside windblown caves that were once made of sand, and beside still, silent lakes. There, we share stories. Like this one. Read it with us. "Ophelia by the Fisherman's Shack" by Scout Wallace crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/04/o...

There are many hungry things in the tower. We don't recommend feeding them, even if they tell you what they're hungry for. Today's flash is also a hungry thing. "Don't Feed the Sink" by Hollie Dee crowcrosskeys.com/2025/10/01/d...

Things happen in threes. Good, bad, everything in between. Today's three is solidly in the good category. Join us as we read three very good poems by Devony Hof. "Inkpot" "gretel" "commute" crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/27/t...

A building is in the eye of the beholder. When you look upon the tower, you might see ruins. Others might see spires or treehouses. Today's story, concerns another building, come and see... "The Broken Home" by Colleen Tyler crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/24/t...

Sharing a poem on Equinox. While "golden" doesn't explicitly say it's autumn, I imagined it as such. Memory returning at the turn of seasons, as summer fades. You can read my frog prince inspired poem at @crowkeys.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2023/08/23/g...

Our favourite words are the ones we've never met before. There's nothing quite like meeting a new word. However, we will never tire of familiar words in the form of stories. Like today's flash... "AFTER-WORDS" by Donna Shanley crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/20/a...

We've never been much for the city. We prefer our land wild, giving. We understand, much like today's poem, how much a city can take... "The City Asks for More" by @samaureli.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/17/t...

We are very good at identifying dead things here at the tower. Sometimes, though, the dead things disagree with our assessment. It cannot be helped. On the nature of being a dead thing... "Boy & Girl Are Dead" by Bryana Lorenzo crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/13/b...

2. The Mirror Of Winter by Sarah McPherson in @crowkeys.bsky.social a story of cold in the heart. crowcrosskeys.com/2025/04/26/t...

There is a nervous energy here in the tower. Like something wondrous might happen at any moment. While we sit in anticipation, why not read today's flash with us? It too is filled with wonder. "Belly" by Colleen Addison crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/10/b...

There is a god living somewhere in the tower. They crept in while we weren't looking and are insisting on worship. We're not yet convinced. We are, however, convinced by today's poem: "Shrine of Looking Back" by SK Grout crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/06/s...

We're divining the future by dropping things from the tower and watching how they spin. It's not very effective. For a more effective manner of divination, today's short story... "Fabled Promises" by Emily Weiskopf-Ball crowcrosskeys.com/2025/09/03/f...

We've dedicated today to staying still. Being quiet. Quite the opposite of today's flash. Join us for... "Minotaur" by Myfanwy Williams crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/30/m...

There is something of an overture playing in the tower this evening. It's telling a story, an old one and a long one. For an old story, in the form of a poem, we offer... "Opus Hades" by Kimberly White crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/27/o...

So excited that a piece of mine from a now-defunct publication has found a new home at @crowkeys.bsky.social! Thank you @keychild.bsky.social for your wonderful letter! Just what I needed during this difficult week! 🐦‍⬛🗝️🖤

Pub day! The opening line of this one floated into my head without explanation— therefore none of this is my fault. Thank you @crowkeys.bsky.social :)

We're always searching for strange things in unlikely places. Things where they shouldn't be. Things a size they cannot be. Things that shouldn't exist in the first place. So, we present... "The Egg" by @schorn.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/23/t...

We have been migratory today, hence our tardiness, but this flash is worth the wait. Come, contemplate the end with us... "The Last Migration of the Sandhill Crane" by Aubrey Zahn crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/20/t...

We've been talking to the birds. They say you should read this poem. Birds are wise, and you should listen to them. "Mimicry" by Taylor Hamann Los crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/16/m...

I read Wyrd-Woman of Bellem by Shay Schmida in @crowkeys.bsky.social a story about magic and weaving and curses nightofthehats.blogspot.com/2025/08/i-re...

A reader walks into the tower, as they so often do, and they find exactly what they are expecting: a wonderful story. Read it with us. "Into the Woods" by Lydia Waites crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/13/i...

Absolutely delighted to announce that my story “Patchwork Boy” will be appearing in an upcoming issue of @crowkeys.bsky.social! 🐦‍⬛🗝️ Extra special thanks to editor-in-chief @keychild.bsky.social for the kind words in my acceptance letter. 🧡

The tower has been sprouting phantom facial features. An ear here, a mouth there. We're not sure where they're coming from, but we like them all the same. Today, we're reading flash to them. This flash... "An Eyeful" by Katharine Luzzatto crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/09/a...

There have been some unexpected vanishments here in the tower. Rooms, people, miscellaneous things. We're reading poetry to keep up our nerve. Join us, and read... "Disappearing Road" by Gabriella Ekman crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/06/d...

“A crow bursts from the hedge, black punctuation against the sky, its cry a jagged line tearing through the soft-wool hush of the morning.” 🐦‍⬛ Lovely, vivid, inviting trio of poems.

“The painted woman had skin like eggshell. She was me and not me. You crushed me to you and stroked my hair. —I adore you. Don’t doubt me. Your kisses were fierce. I thought I would die of love.” Hey so this story is gorgeously crafted and giving Grimm and Angela Carter’s “The Bloody Chamber.”

“Rumor has it that by the time he died, the better-days-past vine had overtaken his house so completely that the funeral director had to come equipped with gardening shears to remove the body from the premises.“ Oh I just know this plant would be the end of me. ✨🌱 🍵

“He says he’s coming—he’s been meaning to see that movie, too. To that, I don’t reply. I read that Surgeon General’s report on the loneliness epidemic a few months back, but it’s like, what can you do?” A quietly relatable story in a surprising setting, with a snippet of hope in other friends.

Here at the tower, we're falling apart. There are bits and pieces of us everywhere—you should watch where you step. We'd be right at home in today's short story... "My Body's a Zombie for You" by Mariya Kurbatova crowcrosskeys.com/2025/08/02/m...

Hope yall enjoy this weird little flash of mine. 🖤🪴 @crowkeys.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/07/30/c...

We are in a celebratory mood, here at the tower. Today's post is very special, not only because it is in a fun format (we love a fun format), but because it is our 500th post! Please enjoy... "Care Guide for Your Better-Days-Past Vine" by @eleridenham.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2025/07/30/c...