Grounded

by Té V. Smith

Part of a 0.99 Monthly microfiction series: In GROUNDED, Joseph, a nervous Alabama man waiting at his boarding gate, spirals into panic after falling down an internet rabbit hole of headlines and social media posts.

18 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 22, 2026

About the author

Té V. Smith's debut collection, Here We Are Reflections of A God Gone Mad (2015) was selected for the ESL Emerging Writers Prize. He holds an MFA in Systematic Theology from Western University. Té was the 2015 Sophies Table Writer-in-Residence in Bridgeport CT., a POWER Democracy Fellow, and the 2016 Writer for Dupree International. His poetry, short stories, and essays have appeared or are forethcoming in various journals and online publications including Black Girl In Ohm, Essence, Blavity, The Kenyan Review, and Tin House. His was, most recently, interviewed for Afro Minimalist and was selected as a 2017 Writer-in-Residence, for the Rhode Island Writers Colony. Té divides his time between New Orleans, Brooklyn, and Nigeria. He is working on his debut novel, Nyumbani.