Centaur Lit

08/16/2026

“I will never write about what it felt like to be nine years old, mouth open in my dreams when a bee flew in. Screaming and screaming in my red shorts and red and white striped shirt. Standing on the corner of my block. I locked the beehive in the attic, pocketed the key. I will never tell you the truth.”
From “I Have a Picture of My Mother at Fifteen in a Pink Dress, Hands Clasped, Standing Outside a Place Called Mom’s Luncheonette” by Georgia Bellas
Read more at https://centaurlit.com/i-have-a-picture-of-my-mother-at-fifteen-in-a-pink-dress-hands-clasped-standing-outside-a-place-called-moms-luncheonette-by-georgia-bellas/
Art by Thad DeVassie, “The Mechanical Centaur.”

08/02/2026

The August issue is live at https://centaurlit.com/ with writing from Georgia Bellas, Peter Cashorali, Subhravanu Das, Avery Holmes, Rebecca Klassen, Meg Pokrass, and Jean-Luke Swanepoel, web design by Adam Robinson, and art by Thad DeVassie. Pictured: “The Mechanical Centaur.”

Cover art “The Mechanical Centaur,” by Thad DeVassie view more at the Cover Art Archive   Summer 2026 I Have a Picture of My Mother at Fifteen in a Pink Dress, Hands Clasped, Standing Outside a Place Called Mom’s Luncheonette by Georgia Bellas The Museum by Peter Cashorali In the Village of R...

07/26/2026

“It’s all on you now. It’s unraveling. We’ve torn it. How many stitches to make the world new? Knit a deep green yarn: a symphony of whale-song, of tiny tendrilled tales unheard. Knit an ice-white net for the bear’s last stand; a paw-hold, a claw-hold for the last melting floe-hold. Add a row in herring-bone for sea-silver gone.”
From “To a Young Knitter Seen on the Bus” by Donna Shanley
Read more at https://centaurlit.com/to-a-young-knitter-seen-on-the-bus-by-donna-shanley/
Art by Ali McLafferty, “Carousel Centauress.”

07/13/2026

“Flames. A car, burning at the end of the lot. We whisper then, the teenagers we are. Should we? What if? Hurriedly pulling on our clothes. Hearts too fast. But there is no one out there, no one at all, and when our fear goes quiet, so do we, our fingertips resting on the cold glass.”
From “Car Thieves” by Jane O’Sullivan
Read more at https://centaurlit.com/car-thieves-by-jane-osullivan/
Art by Ali McLafferty, “Carousel Centauress.”

07/08/2026

“he’s a contortionist
he’s more than the sum of his problematic parts
in monochrome, detective noir
about a haunted house
about a hut on a windswept hillside where he lives off lettuce and heritage carrots
he’s a pilgrim”

From “The man with a squatter in his belly dreams” by Matt Kendrick
Read more at https://centaurlit.com/the-man-with-a-squatter-in-his-belly-dreams-by-matt-kendrick/
Art by Ali McLafferty, “Carousel Centauress.” See less

06/30/2026

Congratulations to the Centaur writers whose stories were recognized in the 2026 Wigleaf short and long lists today.
https://www.wigleaf.com/

Top 50
Hien Nguyen, "Watching Your Mother Die"

Top 50 Long List
Kelli Short Borges, "We Don't Meet in Buda"
Catherine Chiarella Domonkos, "The Giant Squid"
Mandira Pattnaik, "I can't tell if I'm in lov with the travl vlogger"

06/14/2026

“(noun): the process or period of gathering in crops, as in ‘We helped with the harvest.’ As in the bushel baskets we filled with apples the birds hadn’t yet pecked or p**ped on, the apples that hadn’t gone squooshy in their rot. Those you threw at me, chanting dog p**p, dog p**p until our father roared out the back door, beer can in hand, and threatened to tan our fannies.”
From “Harvest, As In” by Sarah Freligh
Read more at https://centaurlit.com/harvest-as-in-by-sarah-freligh/
Art by Ali McLafferty, “Carousel Centauress.”

06/07/2026

“His father, before the boy was born, had planted forsythia, a border to separate their yard on two sides from the corner of slurry-sealed alleys. ‘He promised that each April would be stunning,’ his mother told him and paused to quietly cough. ‘But forsythia is a month of beauty and half a year of care.’”
From “Forsythia” by by Gary Fincke
Read more at https://centaurlit.com/forsythia-by-gary-fincke/
Art by Ali McLafferty, “Carousel Centauress.”

05/29/2026

Congratulations again to the writers whose pieces from Centaur were selected for inclusion in Best Microfiction 2026!
"We Don't Meet in Buda," by Kelli Short Borges
"Yellow," by Christine H. Chen
"Circus," by Dawn Raffel
"At the Dentist's in Arlington Heights," by Tina S. Zhu

Please consider ordering the anthology, coming out soon! It is a wonderful annual celebration of flash fiction!

The Best Microfiction anthology series provides recognition for outstanding literary stories of 400 words or fewer.