Writing Darkness

The Works of Zachary Robert Long

Menu
  • Home
  • Gallery
    • Paintings
    • Cut-Up/Black-Out Poems
  • Blog
  • Music
Menu
Hundreds of bodies litter the ground. One image of the aftermath of the Jonestown Massacre.

The Jonestown Massacre (Cut-up)
by Zachary Robert Long (579 words, estimated reading time: 3 minutes)

Posted on June 4, 2023August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

THE JONESTOWN MASSACRE Let’s just be done with the agony of it – this revolutionary paranoia as autumn turned to winter in the year of 1978. In November 1978, the Californian congressman, Leo J Ryan, such a finale begins in the Deep South of America with the life of for help to leave Jonestown and…

Read more
A lonely, back country road enveloped in mist. Two headlights in the distance reveal a car traveling towards the viewer.

More Precious Than Jewels
by Zachary Robert Long (1669 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)

Posted on May 24, 2023August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ – Matthew 15:4 The darkness hung around the car like a death shroud. The headlights could barely cut through the fog rolling in from the eastern river that circumvented the small town they were…

Read more
An empty swing-set

The Swing
by Zachary Robert Long (1639 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)

Posted on November 27, 2021August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

Joey was out of his desk and pulling open the classroom door before the bell rang for the second time. He was the first kid in the hall, rushing headlong down it’s length towards the double doors that screamed freedom. “No running in the halls!” Mrs. Lightfoot called out after him in vain. They both…

Read more
A cat stares into the void

The Kid and the Cat
by Zachary Robert Long (2581 words, estimated reading time: 12 minutes)

Posted on November 26, 2021August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

He had read an article about it once. Guy’s alone at his parent’s place with the family cat while they go shopping. Thinks what the hell and sees for himself why they call it pussy. Family comes home to find the cat with a wrecked asshole and…end of story. Good for a couple laughs, maybe…

Read more
  • Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

Creative work is often driven by pain

— Cormac McCarthy

Recent Posts

  • Ruby Laughs
    by Zachary Robert Long (1304 words, estimated reading time: 6 minutes)
    (Ruby Laughs is a sequel to A Good Mother) She lays on the motel water-bed, her pregnant belly undulating with each breath, and though her face is...
  • The Way It Squirms
    by Zachary Robert Long (2100 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)
    The lump in Steven’s armpit stayed the same size no matter how many times he told himself it wasn’t there. Staring at himself in the bathroom...
  • The Skin Came Free
    by Zachary Robert Long (1441 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)
    The skin on my hands has been coming off lately. It starts by the nails, sort of folding back. Not quite tearing but slipping away. I...
  • Robert Cook Collection Item #0888
    by Zachary Robert Long (2856 words, estimated reading time: 13 minutes)
    During the final hours of October 10, 1961, Everett Turpin murdered his wife Dorothy Turpin with an ax. The following morning he drove his Ford F-1...
  • For the Entertainment of Strangers
    by Zachary Robert Long (3971 words, estimated reading time: 17 minutes)
    For Haleigh Masterton, the moment her stomach lining tore registered only as a dull ache. Nor did it slow her down any. It was simply another...

Archives

  • February 2026
  • January 2026
  • December 2025
  • November 2025
  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • May 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • November 2021

Categories

  • Blog
  • Poetry
  • Short fiction

©Zack Long 2025