I woke up early on Sunday with an enormous antler sprouted by each ear. I screamed, and I screamed, and I screamed until the mirror cracked in three. Then my husband woke up and started the coffee, but we’re not coffee drinkers. When our children woke up they had daisies growing from their ears and vines wrapping around their legs. But my husband—only his beard had grown—seven feet long and dragging along the floor. Three mice lived there eating saltines and cheddar. I kneeled to the ground and shooed them away with my antlers. It wasn’t enough. It’s never enough.
Bethany Jarmul is an Appalachian writer and poet. She’s the author of two chapbooks and one poetry collection—This Strange and Wonderful Existence (poetry chapbook, Bottlecap Press, 2023), Take Me Home (nonfiction chapbook, Belle Point Press, 2024), and Lightning Is a Mother (poetry collection, ELJ Editions, 2025). Her writing was selected for Best Spiritual Literature 2023 and Best Small Fictions 2024, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, The Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, and Wigleaf Top 50. Connect with her at bethanyjarmul.com or on social media: @BethanyJarmul.
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