Hello fellow strange pilgrims, our theme for this month’s micro challenge was Utopia and turns out y’all have a whole lot to say about that! We read over 600 entries for this challenge and present you the winner below. Aaand we’re also now open early for September’s challenge.
Drumroll please for the theme announcement (or a general cackling cacophony will also do!).
September Micro of the Month Theme is:
Marriage
Send us your micros (300 words or less) before September 3rd midnight! Remember, it’s free to submit and the winner gets $30 + publication.
If you need a refresher on the details ↓
And now the winner of the August challenge!
Today, they took me back to the river. I barely swim anymore. Sometimes they put me in a Tupperware container where I can dangle my legs. And I have to react to a music box. Sometimes they use a water gun on me. And I have to react to a plushie doppelganger of myself. Sometimes they put a crocodile head that moves by itself in the inflatable pool where the cat wheel is. And I have to react to a dancing squid toy. Sometimes I witness the hatching of a mystery egg. And I have to react to an octopus popsicle.
The mystery egg hatched a plastic penguin. They put half of the mystery egg’s shell on my head. I watch an anti-gravity water drop illusion. And I have to react.
Today, I heard a bird whistle for the first time. That’s what they said. They did an unboxing of merch. All the showerheads look like me. And I have to react.
Sometimes, there is a birthday sushi train. Sometimes, my bowl remains empty for a long time. I am on a diet, they said. So they show me a virtual fish on a tablet. And I have to react.
Sometimes, I turn on the faucet and get angry at the water.
Today, they strapped me into a harness and leash. The river looked different. I saw others like me. I strained at the leash, but I couldn’t go far. I strained for a long time. I got tired. When I woke up, they were gardening. They sprayed micro mist in my face. And I had to react.
Contributor’s Note
I wrote OTTER out of an interest in the strange distance between care and control, and in the ways affection can become performance. I was thinking about captivity not only as a physical condition, but also as a relationship mediated by observation, entertainment, and the expectation to react. The piece grew from that tension between being cared for and being contained, and from the unsettling possibility that the two can begin to resemble each other.
Zoé Mahfouz is an award-winning French actress, content creator, screenwriter, and writer whose work spans fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She holds a Master’s in Screenwriting from the London Film School and has received international film festival recognition for her comedy screenplays, including at Canadian Screen Award-qualifying events. Her work has appeared in over 90 journals worldwide, with pieces translated and anthologized in Japanese publications, notably Ginyu and The Asahi Shimbun. She is the author of the critically acclaimed, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize–nominated ADHD in D Minor (North Meridian Press, 2026), as well as the chapbooks Harper’s Order (Black Sunflowers Poetry Press, 2026) and Borges Must Be Rolling in His Grave (Dancing Girl Press, 2025).
I loved this! Makes me think about videos I come across online where people are parading wild animals as cute and manageable with little consideration for their welfare and social needs.
I loved this! Made me really feel for and connect with the otter in such a short span of time.