Heather Bourbeau

Heather Bourbeau’s fiction and poetry have been published in 100 Word Story, Alaska Quarterly Review, Cleaver, Eleven Eleven, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, The Cardiff Review, and The Stockholm Review of Literature. She is the Chapman University Flash Fiction winner and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her work has been featured in several anthologies, including America, We Call Your Name: Poems of Resistance and Resilience (Sixteen Rivers Press), and Respect: Poems About Detroit Music (Michigan State University Press). She has worked with various UN agencies, including the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia and UNICEF Somalia.

The Siege

The fighting lasted for years, perhaps decades.  Buildings were reduced to gravel, bullet by bullet. Neighbors were starved or raped or humiliated. Children played peacekeeper and sniper. Their parents’ hair had gone white or fallen ...

Snake Shanties

Briana took her snake carefully from the cool cave, cooing while he hissed softly. He was by far the favorite of her jump ropes. Not too long, beautiful stripes, smart and devoted completely to her. ...
"Daughters of the Northern Lights" - Artist: Gerhard Munthe. Woolen tapestry loosely based on Norse legends and mythology depicting three polar bears approaching three female figures with stylized flame-like blonde hair; stylized waves and mountains in background.

Origins + Generations

I Origins There once was a polar bear who roamed the great north accompanied by the clouds, his closest friends. They would name floes and lakes and try to hide behind newly christened mountains. For ...
"Minimum Monument" (detail), Néle Azevedo

Waking

We held hands in my dream, in the waking sleepwalk I call living. We held hands and you explained the lightness in your touch — you were dead. It seemed so natural, I accepted it. ...

Towards

It was only when the third sun rose and the heat became unbearable that she stopped. As the ritual of sun set began, she crawled from under the grasses and climbed onto her bison — ...

Extractions

The full body scan announced cancer in her lower left quadrant. She took the handheld and found the almost imperceptible node deep in her shin. The last one had been in her knee and her ...

Hopscotch

Leona Lee and Yun Yoo drew a hopscotch course on their sidewalk. Leona offered, “Why not double it?” Yun countered, “Triple!” They drew around their block and, as they were pointed that way, they continued ...

Sleeping Beauty

After 551 years she woke to the earthy pungence. She shook her long, dark hair, stretched her limbs and tried to walk, following the scent. Her embroidered gown and simple headdress stood out, and the ...