Flash Fiction ( Week 7)

We continued to read short shorts this week and again I continued to be intrigued. Since shorts shorts are fictional, the topics that flash fiction covers is endless! From the readings we did this week, the one that stood out the most to me was “Mammalian Observation Project: Subject J” written by Brian Doyle. I think it stood out the most because it did not have the typical look of a story; instead, it was written like an observation would have been written in an anthropology report with times and then corresponding notes on what was taking place. I really enjoyed how the author was very specific and straight to the point yet somehow the poem still kept your attention at the same time. I most especially enjoyed the last stanza in which Doyle writes,

“Father, moved, and not a little gleeful about escaping, decides to leave work early and buy the best bottle of wine in the universe for mother, but then reflects and that probably that’s how this all started…”(132).

The words Doyle chooses to use makes the poem humorous and laughable. He is not saying exactly what the father is reflecting on, but the reader can infer and laugh about how alcohol allows people to throw out their inhibitions and that's how babies at times can be made. This was a very enjoyable poem due to its non-conventionality in form.

From this week’s readings, the only question that has been sparked is do short shorts have limits? I mean it seems like you can write about anything (i.e. cockroaches talking). It seems like there is no limit or boundary that a poet has to stay in when writing. Is this true? I mean fictional means imaginary, but is this too simple. A poet writing a flash fiction story could write about anything, but is there a line between going overboard with your illusory concepts and the reality of a point that people will recognize and actually understand?

Writing short short fiction appears to be the most creative type of poem a poet can create. Being that flash fiction is not truth, the creativity that a person can play with seems most imaginative and original. If a person has no boundaries within short shorts, the possibilities are inexhaustible.