The Gravity of the Thing
@gravityofthething.bsky.social
An independent publisher of defamiliarized creative writing. We publish work that stranges in pursuit of a renewed sense of discovery.
Recent publications at thegravityofthething.com
Submission guidelines at thegravityofthething.com/submit
Recent publications at thegravityofthething.com
Submission guidelines at thegravityofthething.com/submit
"The Boys could be found on the Rock whenever there was sun. Their brown and pink tones dappling the grey jut, an image of the languid summer they all wished could last forever..."
Our Fall 2025 issue recently concluded with a short story by Eric Oman Callahan.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
Our Fall 2025 issue recently concluded with a short story by Eric Oman Callahan.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
The Boys | Eric Oman Callahan
"The Boys could be found on the Rock whenever there was sun. Their brown and pink tones dappling the grey jut, an image of the languid summer they all wished could last forever..."
thegravityofthething.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:10 PM
"The Boys could be found on the Rock whenever there was sun. Their brown and pink tones dappling the grey jut, an image of the languid summer they all wished could last forever..."
Our Fall 2025 issue recently concluded with a short story by Eric Oman Callahan.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
Our Fall 2025 issue recently concluded with a short story by Eric Oman Callahan.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
"A mimosa represented chastity because the leaves of the mimosa close at night, or when touched. White carnation meant pure love and good luck, and a pink one, a mother’s undying love..."
"Pink Carnation" by Rebecca Suzuki recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#creativenonfiction
"Pink Carnation" by Rebecca Suzuki recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#creativenonfiction
Pink Carnation | Rebecca Suzuki
"A mimosa represented chastity because the leaves of the mimosa close at night, or when touched. White carnation meant pure love and good luck, and a pink one, a mother’s undying love..."
thegravityofthething.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:04 PM
"A mimosa represented chastity because the leaves of the mimosa close at night, or when touched. White carnation meant pure love and good luck, and a pink one, a mother’s undying love..."
"Pink Carnation" by Rebecca Suzuki recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#creativenonfiction
"Pink Carnation" by Rebecca Suzuki recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#creativenonfiction
"work is a place where some adolescents and most adults spent a good deal of their waking time doing specified tasks or acting in prescribed roles in order to earn money..."
Genre-bending writing by Carrie Nassif from our Fall 2025 issue.
#crossgenre #experimentalwriting
Genre-bending writing by Carrie Nassif from our Fall 2025 issue.
#crossgenre #experimentalwriting
In the Beforetimes | Carrie Nassif
"work is a place where some adolescents and most adults spent a good deal of their waking time doing specified tasks or acting in prescribed roles in order to earn money..."
thegravityofthething.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:06 PM
"work is a place where some adolescents and most adults spent a good deal of their waking time doing specified tasks or acting in prescribed roles in order to earn money..."
Genre-bending writing by Carrie Nassif from our Fall 2025 issue.
#crossgenre #experimentalwriting
Genre-bending writing by Carrie Nassif from our Fall 2025 issue.
#crossgenre #experimentalwriting
"If you should ever miss me, take the boat.
If the boat is stalling, jump and fly.
May strong winds float you, levant kids."
"The Firth of Forth" and other poems by Judy Thorn recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
If the boat is stalling, jump and fly.
May strong winds float you, levant kids."
"The Firth of Forth" and other poems by Judy Thorn recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
Fealty and Other Poems | Judy Thorn
"If you should ever miss me, take the boat. / If the boat is stalling, jump and fly. / May strong winds float you, levant kids. / I sing for quarters now, into my hat. / Nothing bad I’ve ever done has...
thegravityofthething.com
October 2, 2025 at 6:53 PM
"If you should ever miss me, take the boat.
If the boat is stalling, jump and fly.
May strong winds float you, levant kids."
"The Firth of Forth" and other poems by Judy Thorn recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
If the boat is stalling, jump and fly.
May strong winds float you, levant kids."
"The Firth of Forth" and other poems by Judy Thorn recently appeared in our Fall 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
"I want the small sky brightnesses on the piece of hard ground like I want food, but different. I want to look at it. I want to touch it..."
A new flash fiction story by Rob Swystun from our Fall 2025 issue.
#fiction #flashfiction
A new flash fiction story by Rob Swystun from our Fall 2025 issue.
#fiction #flashfiction
The Birth of Evil | Rob Swystun
"Other like me has sky brightness. He showed me. It was like many sky brightnesses, but small. They are in a piece of hard ground. They move like sky brightness on water..."
thegravityofthething.com
September 25, 2025 at 4:50 PM
"I want the small sky brightnesses on the piece of hard ground like I want food, but different. I want to look at it. I want to touch it..."
A new flash fiction story by Rob Swystun from our Fall 2025 issue.
#fiction #flashfiction
A new flash fiction story by Rob Swystun from our Fall 2025 issue.
#fiction #flashfiction
"how our distant ancestors
first learned to grind with their teeth
how we have so many words
for the act of sifting one thing
from another"
Our Fall 2025 issue recently launched with two poems by CS Crowe.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
first learned to grind with their teeth
how we have so many words
for the act of sifting one thing
from another"
Our Fall 2025 issue recently launched with two poems by CS Crowe.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
Selected Poems | CS Crowe
"we have so many words / for the act of sifting one thing / from another / sift, sieve, sort, strain / how many of these words / are gentle and soft / in our mouths / thresh, sever, sunder, winnow..."
thegravityofthething.com
September 19, 2025 at 7:52 PM
"how our distant ancestors
first learned to grind with their teeth
how we have so many words
for the act of sifting one thing
from another"
Our Fall 2025 issue recently launched with two poems by CS Crowe.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
first learned to grind with their teeth
how we have so many words
for the act of sifting one thing
from another"
Our Fall 2025 issue recently launched with two poems by CS Crowe.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
"First Steps" by Laurel Prieto for our Fall 2025 issue. New works of defamiliarized creative writing will appear in our fall issue throughout September and October. Learn more at thegravityofthething.com.
September 17, 2025 at 4:57 PM
"First Steps" by Laurel Prieto for our Fall 2025 issue. New works of defamiliarized creative writing will appear in our fall issue throughout September and October. Learn more at thegravityofthething.com.
"did he touch a cigarette to synthetic? a single spark igniting. curtains / cabinets furniture. the hot cloud pawing through fusty / hallways..."
Our Summer 2025 issue recently concluded with a poem by Kathleen Hellen.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
Our Summer 2025 issue recently concluded with a poem by Kathleen Hellen.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
How the Fire Must Have Started | Kathleen Hellen
"black smoke charring faded floral wallpaper. / they were old, we didn’t know them. call it failure of occupation. the grass untamed. trackless. / the vines that willed a wall. call it failure of atte...
thegravityofthething.com
August 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM
"did he touch a cigarette to synthetic? a single spark igniting. curtains / cabinets furniture. the hot cloud pawing through fusty / hallways..."
Our Summer 2025 issue recently concluded with a poem by Kathleen Hellen.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
Our Summer 2025 issue recently concluded with a poem by Kathleen Hellen.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
"If anyone knows where this tlanguage of rocks leads then it’s a trap / A dead end for people who are looking for something resembling the truth..."
A new poem by Mykyta Ryzhykh from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
A new poem by Mykyta Ryzhykh from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
Loneliness is a Room | Mykyta Ryzhykh
"If anyone knows where this tlanguage of rocks leads then it's a trap / A dead end for people who are looking for something resembling the truth / We drowned like drowned men who have swum out three t...
thegravityofthething.com
August 22, 2025 at 5:52 PM
"If anyone knows where this tlanguage of rocks leads then it’s a trap / A dead end for people who are looking for something resembling the truth..."
A new poem by Mykyta Ryzhykh from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
A new poem by Mykyta Ryzhykh from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #poetrycommunity
"I convince myself that the view of sun breaking over water is what I need, to soothe this body whose pieces were cut with different blades, painted the same color, and built back together..."
Two prose poems by @warmaiden.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #prosepoetry
Two prose poems by @warmaiden.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #prosepoetry
Selected Prose Poems | Colleen S. Harris
"My room is rural dark, back field dark, so dark I can read by the wan glow cast from the kitchen light through the crack under my bedroom door, the same dim radiance as this unhurried burn of inflamm...
thegravityofthething.com
August 14, 2025 at 5:28 PM
"I convince myself that the view of sun breaking over water is what I need, to soothe this body whose pieces were cut with different blades, painted the same color, and built back together..."
Two prose poems by @warmaiden.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #prosepoetry
Two prose poems by @warmaiden.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#poetry #prosepoetry
"you're a fungus expanding your fibrous tendrils across dead skin and decaying organs; sing in the language of hunger, the words an ancestral memory buried in the genetic code..."
Genre-bending writing by @gorillapoet.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#flash #experimentalwriting
Genre-bending writing by @gorillapoet.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#flash #experimentalwriting
Re(Evolution) | Nathan Tompkins
"you're a fungus expanding your fibrous tendrils across dead skin and decaying organs; sing in the language of hunger, the words an ancestral memory buried in the genetic code..."
thegravityofthething.com
August 4, 2025 at 6:45 PM
"you're a fungus expanding your fibrous tendrils across dead skin and decaying organs; sing in the language of hunger, the words an ancestral memory buried in the genetic code..."
Genre-bending writing by @gorillapoet.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#flash #experimentalwriting
Genre-bending writing by @gorillapoet.bsky.social from our Summer 2025 issue.
#flash #experimentalwriting
"Malicious, bleary-eyed scammers, payola and crime and all that. It wasn’t a life I knew, was acquainted with at all.
But I liked to dream about it anyway..."
Check out Yuna Kang's short fiction story, which appeared this week in our Summer 2025 issue.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
But I liked to dream about it anyway..."
Check out Yuna Kang's short fiction story, which appeared this week in our Summer 2025 issue.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
Walnut Creek Gas & Co. | Yuna Kang
"Malicious, bleary-eyed scammers, payola and crime and all that. It wasn’t a life I knew, was acquainted with at all. But I liked to dream about it anyway..."
thegravityofthething.com
July 30, 2025 at 6:04 PM
"Malicious, bleary-eyed scammers, payola and crime and all that. It wasn’t a life I knew, was acquainted with at all.
But I liked to dream about it anyway..."
Check out Yuna Kang's short fiction story, which appeared this week in our Summer 2025 issue.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
But I liked to dream about it anyway..."
Check out Yuna Kang's short fiction story, which appeared this week in our Summer 2025 issue.
#fiction #shortfiction #shortstory
"A man stands in front of a mirror wearing last night’s makeup. He knows he should have taken it off, but he didn’t. He was having a good time, living his truest self, and he got home so late (so early)..."
Our Summer 2025 issue launches with a #flashfiction story by @adjinntonic.bsky.social.
Our Summer 2025 issue launches with a #flashfiction story by @adjinntonic.bsky.social.
Put Your Lips Together and Blow | Tate A. Geborkoff
"A man stands in front of a mirror wearing last night’s makeup. He knows he should have taken it off, but he didn’t. He was having a good time, living his truest self, and he got home so late (so earl...
thegravityofthething.com
July 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
"A man stands in front of a mirror wearing last night’s makeup. He knows he should have taken it off, but he didn’t. He was having a good time, living his truest self, and he got home so late (so early)..."
Our Summer 2025 issue launches with a #flashfiction story by @adjinntonic.bsky.social.
Our Summer 2025 issue launches with a #flashfiction story by @adjinntonic.bsky.social.
"Lichen" by Laurel Prieto for our Summer 2025 issue. New works of defamiliarized creative writing will appear in our summer issue throughout July and August. Learn more at thegravityofthething.com.
July 17, 2025 at 8:19 PM
"Lichen" by Laurel Prieto for our Summer 2025 issue. New works of defamiliarized creative writing will appear in our summer issue throughout July and August. Learn more at thegravityofthething.com.
"We had no language, you understand,
only the possibility of it;
three strands of hibiscus arranged
left to right would mean grandmother"
Our Spring 2025 issue concludes with a poem by Zachariah Claypole White.
@zachariahcw.bsky.social #poetry
only the possibility of it;
three strands of hibiscus arranged
left to right would mean grandmother"
Our Spring 2025 issue concludes with a poem by Zachariah Claypole White.
@zachariahcw.bsky.social #poetry
I Give the Angel Chuck’s Watch, and He Recalls the First Night of Creation | Zachariah Claypole White
"We had no language, you understand, / only the possibility of it; / three strands of hibiscus arranged / left to right would mean grandmother; / it could also mean subway or wheelchair."
thegravityofthething.com
June 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM
"We had no language, you understand,
only the possibility of it;
three strands of hibiscus arranged
left to right would mean grandmother"
Our Spring 2025 issue concludes with a poem by Zachariah Claypole White.
@zachariahcw.bsky.social #poetry
only the possibility of it;
three strands of hibiscus arranged
left to right would mean grandmother"
Our Spring 2025 issue concludes with a poem by Zachariah Claypole White.
@zachariahcw.bsky.social #poetry
"Did you ever think you’d end up here
Those times you went on Oprah, talking tough
To teenage moms? You never quite became a star."
New #poetry by Nadia Kalman from our Spring 2025 issue.
Those times you went on Oprah, talking tough
To teenage moms? You never quite became a star."
New #poetry by Nadia Kalman from our Spring 2025 issue.
Getting Personal with Dr. Phil | Nadia Kalman
"Did you ever think you’d end up here / Those times you went on Oprah, talking tough / To teenage moms? You never quite became a star." Nadia Kalman is an NEA Literature grantee and the author of The ...
thegravityofthething.com
June 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
"Did you ever think you’d end up here
Those times you went on Oprah, talking tough
To teenage moms? You never quite became a star."
New #poetry by Nadia Kalman from our Spring 2025 issue.
Those times you went on Oprah, talking tough
To teenage moms? You never quite became a star."
New #poetry by Nadia Kalman from our Spring 2025 issue.
"In the beginning not yet sacred all is apropos. As I traverse a simple closed curve counterclockwise the interior is always on the left."
A prose poem by Heikki Huotari from our Spring 2025 issue.
A prose poem by Heikki Huotari from our Spring 2025 issue.
Call to Order | Heikki Huotari
"In the beginning not yet sacred all is apropos. As I traverse a simple closed curve counterclockwise the interior is always on the left. I'll gaze in wonder only at that which I've gazed in wonder at...
thegravityofthething.com
June 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
"In the beginning not yet sacred all is apropos. As I traverse a simple closed curve counterclockwise the interior is always on the left."
A prose poem by Heikki Huotari from our Spring 2025 issue.
A prose poem by Heikki Huotari from our Spring 2025 issue.
"Out of sight of the hero’s dead eyes, he brushes his bony hands and gets back to the very important work of writing his treatise on the condition of the undead..."
New fiction by Henry Stevens from our Spring 2025 issue.
New fiction by Henry Stevens from our Spring 2025 issue.
Death Trap | Henry Stevens
"He sits back down in his throne of bone and ebony, admiring his phylactery. He wants to be excited, but there is something empty in his victory. No one to tell."
thegravityofthething.com
May 29, 2025 at 5:49 PM
"Out of sight of the hero’s dead eyes, he brushes his bony hands and gets back to the very important work of writing his treatise on the condition of the undead..."
New fiction by Henry Stevens from our Spring 2025 issue.
New fiction by Henry Stevens from our Spring 2025 issue.
"I was told growing up 'you’re a quarter' of each thing, like a dollar bill, but with the weight of making sure you can keep all the pieces together, to be able to buy what you need at the dollar store."
Creative nonfiction by Elica Sue from our Spring 2025 issue.
Creative nonfiction by Elica Sue from our Spring 2025 issue.
Ten-Course Chicken (Adobo) Dinner | Elica Sue
"I was told growing up 'you’re a quarter' of each thing, like a dollar bill, but with the weight of making sure you can keep all the pieces together, to be able to buy what you need at the dollar stor...
thegravityofthething.com
May 23, 2025 at 8:45 PM
"I was told growing up 'you’re a quarter' of each thing, like a dollar bill, but with the weight of making sure you can keep all the pieces together, to be able to buy what you need at the dollar store."
Creative nonfiction by Elica Sue from our Spring 2025 issue.
Creative nonfiction by Elica Sue from our Spring 2025 issue.
"Something wraps your ankle in a tight grip. A sharp end presses into your lower back and threatens to pierce your skin. A claw? A sting? A beak?"
Our Spring 2025 issue recently launched with a short story by @johansmits.bsky.social.
Our Spring 2025 issue recently launched with a short story by @johansmits.bsky.social.
The Fearsucker | Johan Smits
"Something wraps your ankle in a tight grip. A sharp end presses into your lower back and threatens to pierce your skin. A claw? A sting? A beak?"
thegravityofthething.com
May 19, 2025 at 4:57 PM
"Something wraps your ankle in a tight grip. A sharp end presses into your lower back and threatens to pierce your skin. A claw? A sting? A beak?"
Our Spring 2025 issue recently launched with a short story by @johansmits.bsky.social.
Our Spring 2025 issue recently launched with a short story by @johansmits.bsky.social.
"Pathways" by Laurel Prieto for our Spring 2025 issue. New works of defamiliarized prose and poetry will appear in our spring issue throughout May and June. Learn more at thegravityofthething.com.
May 15, 2025 at 5:23 PM
"Pathways" by Laurel Prieto for our Spring 2025 issue. New works of defamiliarized prose and poetry will appear in our spring issue throughout May and June. Learn more at thegravityofthething.com.
"the Valkyries predicted we would crave quake, that the stars existed to shine down on our teeth embedded in sidewalks like ivory sequins..."
Our Winter 2025 issue concludes with three experimental poems by Panika M. C. Dillon.
@withoutreports.bsky.social
Our Winter 2025 issue concludes with three experimental poems by Panika M. C. Dillon.
@withoutreports.bsky.social
Selected Poems | Panika M. C. Dillon
"the Valkyries predicted we would crave quake, that the stars existed to shine down on our teeth embedded in sidewalks like ivory sequins / there’s a crack in the bruised sky of Ymir’s skull—that’s ho...
thegravityofthething.com
March 26, 2025 at 5:23 PM
"the Valkyries predicted we would crave quake, that the stars existed to shine down on our teeth embedded in sidewalks like ivory sequins..."
Our Winter 2025 issue concludes with three experimental poems by Panika M. C. Dillon.
@withoutreports.bsky.social
Our Winter 2025 issue concludes with three experimental poems by Panika M. C. Dillon.
@withoutreports.bsky.social
"The seeds of my prison were sown in the third century when a drunk calligrapher scrawled an impromptu poem. On a spring afternoon beside a stream, the calligrapher Xizhi composed the Orchid Pavilion Preface..."
A new short story by Alex Zhao.
A new short story by Alex Zhao.
The Emperor's Mirror | Alex Zhao
"The seeds of my prison were sown in the third century when a drunk calligrapher scrawled an impromptu poem. On a spring afternoon beside a stream, the calligrapher Xizhi composed the Orchid Pavilion ...
thegravityofthething.com
March 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
"The seeds of my prison were sown in the third century when a drunk calligrapher scrawled an impromptu poem. On a spring afternoon beside a stream, the calligrapher Xizhi composed the Orchid Pavilion Preface..."
A new short story by Alex Zhao.
A new short story by Alex Zhao.
"Within a nanosecond, we are alert, guarded, equipped. We multiply into a huge army, ready for action. Not for nothing, we’re called your first line of defense. We charge with one goal. To protect you."
A new short story by Shanti Chandrasekhar from our Winter 2025 issue.
A new short story by Shanti Chandrasekhar from our Winter 2025 issue.
For Your Self-Defense | Shanti Chandrasekhar
"Within a nanosecond, we are alert, guarded, equipped. We multiply into a huge army, ready for action. Not for nothing, we’re called your first line of defense. We charge with one goal. To protect you...
thegravityofthething.com
March 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
"Within a nanosecond, we are alert, guarded, equipped. We multiply into a huge army, ready for action. Not for nothing, we’re called your first line of defense. We charge with one goal. To protect you."
A new short story by Shanti Chandrasekhar from our Winter 2025 issue.
A new short story by Shanti Chandrasekhar from our Winter 2025 issue.
"when you were tucked in your grave,
neat as a napkin in a lap,
all words soared off to
some shining tree,
bereaving me..."
Two poems by Amy Allison from our Winter 2025 issue.
@byamyallison.bsky.social
neat as a napkin in a lap,
all words soared off to
some shining tree,
bereaving me..."
Two poems by Amy Allison from our Winter 2025 issue.
@byamyallison.bsky.social
Mourning and Highways | Amy Allison
"when you were tucked in your grave, / neat as a napkin in a lap, / all words soared off to / some shining tree, / bereaving me / now they’re transforming / into things that hurl by..."
thegravityofthething.com
February 26, 2025 at 4:56 PM
"when you were tucked in your grave,
neat as a napkin in a lap,
all words soared off to
some shining tree,
bereaving me..."
Two poems by Amy Allison from our Winter 2025 issue.
@byamyallison.bsky.social
neat as a napkin in a lap,
all words soared off to
some shining tree,
bereaving me..."
Two poems by Amy Allison from our Winter 2025 issue.
@byamyallison.bsky.social