Womb by Karen Schauber

The womb was large enough to accommodate the return of a small child. Blood vessels, connective tissue, a prehistoric architecture laid out like Malta’s Hal Saflieni Hypogeum underground complex of chambers and passageways; a re-routing of fresh blood. Welcome messages and guideposts were carved into the walls from previous entities, stowaways, and drifters. When the child finally arrived, there was no fanfare. The return was seen as a reversal of fortune. Necessary though to undo the worst of it. A gift really. The multitudes looked on with envy. A chance to begin anew, wipe the slate clean – a do-over.

Artist’s Statement

It is in the creative process that I am most myself. I am obsessed with the flash fiction form, its concision, resonance, imagery, and poetry, and how it can access the outer reaches of inner space in the smallest of gestures.

Karen Schauber's flash fiction appears in seventy-five international literary magazines, journals, and anthologies. including Bending Genres, Cabinet of Heed, Cease Cows, Ekphrastic Review, Fiction Southeast, New World Writing, Spelk; with three 'Best Microfiction' nominations. She is editor of the award-winning flash fiction anthology The Group of Seven Reimagined: Contemporary Stories Inspired by Historic Canadian Paintings (Heritage House, 2019). Schauber curates Vancouver Flash Fiction, an online resource hub, and Miramichi Flash, a monthly literary column. In her spare time, she is a seasoned family therapist.