The Panorama Flash Fiction Contest was set up in 2021 to invoke a sense of community. In a time where we must stay far apart, writing can bring us together while conveying a wide panorama of human experiences.
Thank you so much to everyone who submitted. We really loved reading your pieces and found so many of them resonated strongly with us. It goes without saying that selecting three pieces was a tough job—please do submit again!
Announcing the winners, as follows!
1st Place: ‘Bullaun’ by Dúnlaith Bird
You have a bullaun in the small of your back, a smooth hollow of soft, scarred skin. Theytook out one of your vertebrae when you were a baby so that you could walk, and it left a holethat a stone could spin in, terrible and tender to look at. An inverted peach, a peach-pit, blush-pink. You leave the bed, cross to the window, and I lie on blue sheets and watch you, walkingon your toes as though you were only barely tethered to the ground. A child of a man, joy liftsyou with every step. My eyes trail down your…
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Runner Up: ‘The Doll Father’ by Dara Yen Elerath
father My daughter stitched me from cloth; she used a thumbtack for a nose and yarn for arms. Then she abandoned me in this closet. Outside the door she watches screens all night and does not see how my button eyes gleam here in the dark. If only she had given me hands instead of tassels, I could hold her. If only she had felted me a heart that pumped, I could teach her something. But she does not want to learn. One night I saw her burn her own ankle with a naked flame. One night I saw her…
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Runner Up: ‘Might’ by Alex Durac
There were boats, I think. I can’t remember. I remember seeing one or two during theday, peering through the haze like sleepy, waking eyes. Fuzzy. In my mind they’re likemirages, covered in clouds and dark sea mist. I’m not really sure how much I’m imaginingthem, though. There may have been none at all. There were definitely birds, although how many I’m not sure. The weather was good.I think I got burnt a little. Not sure if they were fieldstone or mosaic but they were definitelyone of the two. The walls that is. We walked hip-height by them for about two…
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