Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN

@crowkeys

Seeking the wonderful and the bizarre, the beautiful and the dark. Home to all things dark and lovely. crowcrosskeys@gmail.com EIC: @keychild.bsky.social (she/her)

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Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 17d

The link is there, beneath this text. You should click it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/25/t...

An excerpt from poem, The town below the surface by Devanshee Soni published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a textured surface with a dripping line of rust. The excerpt reads: My house is there, beneath the boulder of hell,
where the stars hum like dingy lanterns,
and I must return before dusk—to the rust
on the flowers, to the knives in the door locks,
to the bed woven like a carapace.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 17d

We're not certain how it happened; one moment we could see sky outside the tower's windows, and now? We see dirt, and squirmy, wormy things. It's a shock to the system. We're calming ourselves with poetry. "The town below the surface" by Devanshee Soni crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/25/t...

A muted greyscale banner for poem, The town below the surface by Devanshee Soni published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a textured surface with a dripping line of rust.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 20d

The link: at the bottom of the post. You: clicking it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/22/t...

$An excerpt from reprinted flash fiction, The Lake House by Keith Hoerner published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring refractions in water. The excerpt reads: Deep below the lake’s murky surface, there sits—intact—a house. A two-story structure of Carpenter Gothic details like elaborate wooden trim bloated to bursting. Its front yard: purple loosestrife. Its inhabitants: alligator gar, bull trout, and pupfish.$

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 20d

The tower is susceptible to flooding. We're not near any water sources. It just happens sometimes. We've learnt not to ask why. For other underwater happenings, today's reprinted flash fiction: "The Lake House" by Keith Hoerner crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/22/t...

$A muted greyscale banner for reprinted flash fiction, The Lake House by Keith Hoerner published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring refractions in water.$

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 24d

The link is already here. Waiting for you. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/18/q...

An excerpt from poem, Quintessence by Özge Lena published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a photograph of a plume of smoke. The excerpt reads:
The air is collapsing, the water
is always filtered, the earth

is left fallow forever, and the fire
is already here, hunting for us.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 24d

All is quiet in the tower. Too quiet. It makes us nervous. Today's poem makes us nervous too, but only in the very best way. "Quintessence" by Özge Lena crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/18/q...

A muted greyscale banner for poem, Quintessence by Özge Lena published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a photograph of a plume of smoke.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 27d

Recently, you have clicked the link. Today, you click it again. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/15/t...

An excerpt from short story, The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes by Lesley McKenna published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a macro shot of an eye overlaid with an image of a galaxy. The excerpt reads: Ever since she was a little girl, Izzie has been obsessed with watching the stars. There’s something about the lights in the sky that fascinates her, that takes her to wondrous worlds she can only imagine, away from real life and all its attendant problems. She has learned the constellations, and all the stars that make them. She has watched their cycles, and studied their stories. Recently, she has begun to hear them. And to speak with them.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· 27d

A smattering of constellations have appeared in the tower. They weave their way into whichever room we happen to be reading. Today, they surround us in the sitting room as we read today's short story. "The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes" by Lesley McKenna crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/15/t...

A muted greyscale banner for short story, The Girl With Stars in Her Eyes by Lesley McKenna published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a macro shot of an eye overlaid with an image of a galaxy.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 11

Please. The link. You must click it crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/11/h...

An excerpt from flash fiction, Hellcat, They Call You by James Montgomery published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring tarot cards, sage and other mystical accoutrements. The excerpt reads: There, the foreshadowed visitor approaches, through the moorland’s bracken and gorse. Mark the woman’s billowing silk; the kind more used to palmistry as parlour entertainment.

‘Please,’ she begs. ‘My son’s fate. I must know.’

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 11

You reading this post was foretold in the tower's bricks. It didn't tell us when it would happen, only that it would. And here you are. Here we are. Here is today's flash fiction: "Hellcat, They Call You" by @jamesmontgomery.bsky.social crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/11/h...

A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Hellcat, They Call You by James Montgomery published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring tarot cards, sage and other mystical accoutrements.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 8

We set down the link. You click it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/08/p...

An excerpt from poem, Porcelain Weather by Nas Jolaade published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a shallow depth of field photograph of a cup resting on a table with steam rising from it. The excerpt reads:
the café breathed in low machinery—grinders worrying the morning, kettles clearing their throats. outside, rain pressed its small signatures against the window. one table away, a boy unfastened a sentence from his mouth and set it down between himself and his father.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 8

It is too warm in the tower. The kitchen keeps making hot drinks regardless. No one is drinking them, but still more appear. We're going to keep ignoring them, and keep reading poetry. Like this: "Porcelain Weather" by Nas Jolaade crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/08/p...

A muted greyscale banner for poem, Porcelain Weather by Nas Jolaade published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a shallow depth of field photograph of a cup resting on a table with steam rising from it.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 4

An excerpt from short story, Robbed by Jordyn Damato published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a close up of a woman lighting a cigarette. The excerpt reads:
Q:
A: So I stopped and lit up a cigarette, sat on the bench. Berb—the owner—doesn’t like when I do that ’cause she thinks it gives the place the wrong impression, but really, who cares about the lonely almost-thirty year old having a quick smoke? No one’s going there for anything besides a burger and a beer. Or the ravioli.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 4

For every word you read in this post, we're stealing something from you. Just little things. The memory of what you did at 4:28pm last Tuesday, for example. To get it back, read today's story: "Robbed" by Jordyn Damato crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/04/r...

A muted greyscale banner for short story, Robbed by Jordyn Damato published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a close up of a woman lighting a cigarette.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 1

Slowly, you click the link. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/01/t...

An excerpt from flash fiction, There's a Light On in the Murder House by Elle Symonds published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a house at night with a light on in one window. The excerpt reads: Slowly, I climb down the ladder from the top bunk. The bottom step creaks as always, but James doesn’t notice, just continues to snore softly below. I part the curtains, peek through.

There’s a light on in the murder house, for the first time in five years.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jul 1

None of the lights in the tower are working. Not one. Most of them are candles. We're collectively baffled. On other baffling lights, today's flash fiction: "There's a Light On in the Murder House" by Elle Symonds crowcrosskeys.com/2026/07/01/t...

A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, There's a Light On in the Murder House by Elle Symonds published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a house at night with a light on in one window.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 27

There are people that make you look at the link. It's us. We are people. Look at the link. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/27/s...

An excerpt from poem, Spellwork by Amanda Adreienne Smith published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring plaited hair and a leaf crown on a light background. The excerpt reads:
There are men who make
you look at the moon.

I have to look at him.
He’s the moon
braiding my hair.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 27

The moon is looking at us funny. We're not sure what we've done to offend her so we're leaving offerings. Offerings in the form of excellent writing. Like today's poem. "Spellwork" by Amanda Adrienne Smith crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/27/s...

A muted greyscale banner for poem, Spellwork by Amanda Adreienne Smith published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring plaited hair and a leaf crown on a light background.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 24

Your finger traces the link. Click it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/24/n...

An excerpt from short story, No Children by A. M. Larouche published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a close-up photograph of dew-covered grass. The excerpt reads: Loam pillowed Emma’s head, her ear pressed to the mouth of Catherine’s grave, waiting for it to speak.

Her fingers traced the stone marker—Catherine Darby of Essex, 1823–1858, A Loving Wife—and curled into the ruptured grass, thumb squeaking along the ridges of each blade; her shoulder settled into the mould it had spent thirteen nights carving. Her dress and petticoats, sticky with autumn rain, coiled around her calves like corpse flesh.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 24

It is too hot in the tower at present. When we look outside, we expect to see flames or the interior of an oven. To stave off the heat, we're sinking down into soil, where it is damp & cool, & reading today's short story. "No Children" by A. M. Larouche crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/24/n...

A muted greyscale banner for short story, No Children by A. M. Larouche published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a close-up photograph of dew-covered grass.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 20

You're searching for the link. It's right here. Click it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/20/l...

An excerpt from flash fiction, Liminal by R.W. Owen published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a long-exposure of a road at night with light trails running down it. The excerpt reads: In other dreams, your Pacer rides along a county road, north by the state line, reeds pressing close on each side, reaching impossibly high into a monochromatic sky lit by the moon and its stars. In those dreams, Camila cries. She cannot see you. She’s searching the fields for your abandoned shoe, the glint of your bracelet in the headlights, some hint on which she can hang her hope that they’ll one day find the rest of you.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 20

We've been having strange dreams recently. Desolate pathways that lead nowhere, corridors that never end, disembodied voices telling to... Well, it's best we don't mention that. Have some flash instead. It's excellent. "Liminal" by R.W. Owen crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/20/l...

A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Liminal by R.W. Owen published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a long-exposure of a road at night with light trails running down it.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 17

We know you met the link. You should click it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/17/m...

An excerpt from poem, Mermaid at the Corner Market by Nonbeaunary published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a mermaid tail in shallow water. The excerpt reads:
I know our fingers met in the middle of the grotto
On a moonless night beneath the dock
And you spoke slow, gills fluttering:

“Don’t
Worry
About
Me”

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 17

The tower has sprouted in the middle of a yard sale. We send our apologies to the yard's owners as the tower has, unfortunately, destroyed their house. For a less disrupted market, today's poem... "Mermaid at the Corner Market" by Nonbeaunary crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/17/m...

A muted greyscale banner for poem, Mermaid at the Corner Market by Nonbeaunary published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a mermaid tail in shallow water.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 13

The link is always wild, but if you click it, it won't bite. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/13/m...

An excerpt from short story, Making a House a Home by Katherine Lynch published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a fox in shallow depth of field. The excerpt reads: She begins leaving food on the back doorstep for the foxes, leftovers from dinners she eats less and less of.

‘We shouldn’t be encouraging them to come so close to the house, they’re wild at this time of year.’

‘They’re always wild; they’re wild animals.’

‘Yes, but they get more aggressive during mating season, the males especially. I read that somewhere.’

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 13

The tower has been undertaking a June cleaning. We have found many things squirrelled away in its walls. Some of those things are, bafflingly and suddenly, alive. Speaking of new life, today's short story... "Making a House a Home" by Katherine Lynch crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/13/m...

A muted greyscale banner for short story, Making a House a Home by Katherine Lynch published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring a fox in shallow depth of field.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 10

Under ordinary circumstances, you might not click the link. These are not ordinary circumstances. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/10/v...

An excerpt from flash fiction, Vestiges by Carolyn R. Russell published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring rumpled bedding and check sheets over a white mattress. The excerpt reads: I tuck the twins tightly into the bed, pinning them like butterflies against the mattress with the scratchy blue motel blanket I’d found in the closet. I try not to think about its moth holes and tea-colored stains. Under ordinary circumstances, I’d never allow anything so foul to touch my daughters.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 10

We're coming to you live from... Well, we're not quite sure. The tower has tucked us away for safekeeping. Luckily, we have some excellent flash fiction to read until it decides to set us free. "Vestiges" by Carolyn R. Russell crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/10/v...

A muted greyscale banner for flash fiction, Vestiges by Carolyn R. Russell published on crowcrosskeys.com, featuring rumpled bedding and check sheets over a white mattress.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 6

The link brings you home. You should click it. crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/06/r...

An excerpt from poem, Relativity by Anika Tenneti published on crowcrosskeys.com, presented on a muted greyscale banner featuring a macro photograph of skin texture overlaid with an image of a nebula. The excerpt reads:
The passing days snip at your hems, letting dust
billow into nebulas, breaths of fresher air.
You stream into the wrinkles of an old woman’s face,
etched in the night sky as the first mother
of every newborn. These contrails
bring you home.

Crow & Cross Keys || SUBS OPEN@crowkeys· Jun 6

We at the tower have been doing palm readings. We don't know how to do palm readings, but everything is skewing to the positive so we're running with it. While we read your palms, you should read today's poem: "Relativity" by Anika Tenneti crowcrosskeys.com/2026/06/06/r...