September 14, 2013 |
A Phan's Notes: the Professional Ballplayer
Justin St. Germain
As I write this, on a Friday afternoon in early August, the Phillies are losing 7-2 in Washington, and Scott Hairston is walking up to the plate to pinch-hit for the Nationals. My phone is
September 13, 2013 | Poetry
You Just Got Boomed
Ben Gross
you can call me the Boom Doctor
I have your emptied-out torso on the operating table
September 13, 2013 | Fiction
the revolution room: station one
Allan Shapiro
It is not easy to remove a heart with a spoon from the chest of a man, nor is it clean. The spoon was purchased 48 hours earlier from the Bed, Bath & Beyond on 9th Street. The Nicole Miller Moments 5 pc Flatware Set was $24.99. The salad fork, dinner knife, dinner fork, and soup spoon were disposed of. Only the teaspoon remained.
September 12, 2013 | Nonfiction
Night Terrors
Cynthia Lim
“Go back to sleep,” I hissed at Perry. It was 2:00 in the morning and we were in our newly purchased condo in Mammoth, sleeping in twin beds in the only room that was habitable. The other two
White Wearing Wet Pants
Shane Allison
I’m wet and wearing white pants
I’m wet and wearing
White pants.
I’m wet and
Wearing white
Pants. I’m wet
Pants. I’m wet
I’m wet and wearing white pants.
Wearing white
I’m wet
Remember To
Sarah Jean Alexander
I dreamt about walking around Ikea by myself and buying a lime green ice cube tray. I drive to the post office and pick out a large flat rate shipping box. I put the ice cube tray inside and I
Great Moments in Cinematic Drinking: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Matt Sailor
At first, you think it’s going to be that old cliché: men and their brown liquors sitting in leather chairs in front of fireplaces, fiddling with models of ships and speaking their “big important
The Liveaboards
Ali Shapiro
"For three years I lived on a 28' 1975 Carver Mariner."
Once it Hits the Air
Luke Wiget
My Spanish was always too slow to impress my father. I tried not to learn it to spite him. But that was like not swallowing water in your mouth when there’s no place to spit it out.
Holiday Festival Invitations
Tom Burke
I’ve gotten in the habit of writing these long email invitations and party reminders for parties I host at my place. Here’s from my 2nd Annual Holiday Festival party. I’ve got a Cherry Tomato
What Daddy & For the Bears
Megan Martin is the author of Sparrow & Other Eulogies (Gold Wake 2011). Her work has appeared recently or is forthcoming in Caketrain, >kill author, The Collagist, and la petite zine. She lives and teaches in Cincinnati.
Heroic Obsolescence: An Interview with Neil Connelly
Zach Savich
As a writer, what draws me to wrestlers, superheroes, etc is probably what you pointed out, that when we first encounter them, they are overtly flat characters, cardboard. So I have a chance, even an obligation, to dig in and root around and find the human, expose him or her. Once we see someone else not as a caricature but a person, we can reflect off them, compare ourselves to them, feel empathy or disdain or any of the myriad of human reactions that matter. But we can’t just shrug and go, “Ah, janitor.”
Vincent Peppers Explains A Conference Call
Shane Jones
Good evening. I just ate eggs. Breakfast for dinner, is what Robin called it. Is there such a thing as dinner for breakfast? I’m sure some jabony has fired-up a cheeseburger and fries at 8 a.m.,
Three Poems
Tracy Dimond
After a couple of Martinis, // one may regard oneself pleasantly pixelated. / I cure nerves with a ten-hour Netflix binge, // then curve my vertebrae to you / while our phones update.
Hymeneal in Many Voices (Comments on the Launch of Stacie and Kyle’s Wedding Registry)
Ivy Goodman
The value of a cash gift is on its face, and that, in some circles, is the value of the giver. But excuse me, the value of a $130 vegetable peeler is $5.99.
Have you traveled abroad? I’m sure
Probably Starlings
Chris Garson
Washer and dryer as hapless duo, / each crashing and beating the other // to shit, idiot tandem: all this / while standing in place.
Two Short Shorts
Trevor Dodge
EVERY DAY IS SUNDAY
I go to call her for the ribs recipe but then I think how she doesn't respond to my jokes so I go to text her instead. And what I say goes like this: you used to make
The Uninvited Bar Mitzvah Guest
Eleanor Levine
Stanley K owns a small radio shop on Forest Avenue in Lakewood.
I walk in, having not seen him in 30 years.
“Stanley!” I exclaim, “how are you?!”
“For virtue of your smile, here!” he
Why You Should Binge-Watch Every Season of Always Sunny on Netflix
Max
18. You will understand and properly use the term “brown out” in every day conversation.
FUN CAMP: An Interview with Gabe Durham
Matthew Simmons (@matthewjsimmons)
You know him. You love him. He's Gabe Durham. His new book is FUN CAMP and it's a ball.
It's a collection of short monologues, letters, and lists, all from the minds, voices, and pens of
How We Killed Whitney Houston & Ghost
Eric Tran
"We’re sorry. We’re not sorry. It was that kind of year, our year in the dumpster, our year in the occult, our year of the amateur séance."