When Eric’s mum came home with the shopping and found him watching TV she asked why he wasn’t at school. ‘I got sent home,’ he replied. ‘I punched Dale Flemming in the face.’ Neither of those statements was true, and he wasn’t really sure why he’d said them except that the last part was all he’d thought about the whole way home. It was all he’d thought about from the moment Belinda Carter laughed at him and told him she and Dale were an item.
Later, when he heard his mother’s sobbing coming from the laundry he could only think to himself, why’s she crying? He grabbed the remote and upped the volume until the ranting of an American talk show host drowned out the noise of her disappointment.
A writer from Melbourne, Richard maintains a number of blogs exploring very short fiction and text-based art practices. His stories and poems have been published in both mainstream and alternative journals and collections. He is also a visual artist and was co-founder of both Platform Artists Group and zine store, Sticky. He continues to publish very short fiction and conduct microfiction workshops for practicing writers, students and others. He has created numerous text-based installations and artworks for public spaces, including at Federation Square, Melbourne and in conjunction with the 2017, Newcastle Writers Festival.
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small stories about love 