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May/June 2020 • Vol. XLII No. 3 |

An Excerpt from “Black-Woman”

Read a micro-conversation with the author here.

I
Black-Woman was born in the back of her father’s baby-blue ’49 Ford pickup. Her mother lay in the rusted flatbed, her feet pressed into the sides, toes curled in her slippers, and dressing gown pulled over her face. She screamed through the knot of gown in her mouth as her husband stared between her legs. His brow furrowed. He held the flame of a lighter between her thighs. He could see a small blue foot.

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Brianna Johnson’s stories have appeared in Cosmonauts Avenue, FIVE:2:ONE Magazine (online), and the Molotov Cocktail. She received a 2018 Pushcart Prize nomination for work featured in Gigantic Sequins (Issue 9.2). An MFA graduate from the University of Tampa, she lives in Orlando, Florida, where she teaches and serves as managing editor of Burrow Press online journal Fantastic Floridas.

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Black-Woman

By Brianna Johnson

IBlack-Woman was born in the back of her father’s baby-blue ’49 Ford pickup. Her mother lay in the rusted flatbed, her feet pressed into the sides, toes curled in her […]

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