A Literary Magazine
He leaves the dorm, a beer in each hand, heads down the hill, and now his hands are empty. He’s in line at Moogie’s, a grungy bar where mostly college guys in frayed jeans, and untied shoes hang out. They probably have fake IDs from the net, assuring the bouncer they’re 21, older if a […]
Low scrim of sky. Small puddles, reflecting grey buildings, sky. An old woman walks down the street carrying her groceries. She thinks of herself in the past. Years quicken. Years pass. Years dissolve. We are made of the years. What a shame to have gotten old? Such was the way of things. Some days, she hates […]
Anthony walks into Camille’s apartment with a bottle of Smirnoff, wearing a black tux. She has hers on too. They’re dressing as twins though they’re actually cousins. Sonny Berkowitz finally gave Camille a solo show and the opening is tonight. Camille’s the unofficial photographer for Halo, the bar where she and her rotating cast of […]
Hauntings AI actress Tilly Norwood has AI dogs all over her AI mansion which has just been listed on AI Zillow. Every room is a dog park. Every pillow is a play toy. Every column is a tree. If you buy her property, you will be haunted, and will need an AI exorcism, one which […]
After tap-dance class one night, Jewell’s instructor, Lyle, leans in, whispering. “Got a minute?” She’s on a bench, unbuckling low-heeled pumps, taps on heels and toes, clinging to tap-love, a childhood comfort after her Ex moved her to Milwaukee and did her so wrong. Twice a week, she perfects steps she thought forgotten. Lessons are […]
I’m in love with a moon girl who smells like lunar dust, sharp and charged. Every night, she studies me, reverent as church quiet, then fucks me feral. Every morning, I wake undisturbed, to a husband who treats me like a haunted doll he was bewitched into buying at an estate sale. Like I’m display-only. […]
The sky is yellow, the air thick with the smoke of wildfires blown in from Canada. My ten-month-old Jessa stands at the window, desperate to swim after her nap. Her pool sits on the deck, the glistening water warmed bath-hot by the sun. We haven’t gone outside in days. The pool is blue-beautiful, but I […]
Natalie sat in a corner of the café, sipping her coffee and looking out the window at the people passing by. The door opened and a man entered holding the hand of a little girl. Natalie watched him asking the child if she would like a hot chocolate and when she nodded he went to […]
As soon as the waiter clears our dishes, Rothko sees the empty white tablecloth as just another canvas needing to be filled. “I don’t have any paints with me,” he says as he rolls up his sleeves, “but I always carry red wherever I go.” He pulls a tortoise shell Parker fountain pen from his […]
My sister’s ex-boyfriend drives past our house day and night. His beat-up, ugly-as-sin Subaru Tribeca screams as he guns it up our hill. My sister decided they were over last week because of the thing with the lighter. “I’m calling the cops,” I tell her, pinching our blinds open. The Tribeca wails by, begging for […]
He only died old. He was old and gray and tired, and we caressed his wrinkled hands before they took him away, and we stared at his lifeless body, because we knew it was the last time we’d see him, and we straightened his creased shirt, and we kissed his weathered cheeks once more, and […]
At any point during the past month have you felt pleasure in your body? Pleasure, that rambunctious barking dog weaving round your feet, leaping and toppling you, paws on your shoulders, while you stare up at stars. Or has pleasure appeared more quietly lately? That same dog, now a muted khaki animal, licking your hand […]
Earl Morgan built a life-sized toy army tank for his boys, Tommy and Scott, in the summer of seventy-one. A rope ladder on the side led up to the top hatch door, and another led down into the hull which had benches, windows, and a rudder for the main gun made from welded pipe scraps. […]
The train car smells faintly of damp fabric. Ian keeps his knees pressed together, his canvas bag pulled flush against his stomach so it doesn’t brush the suit coat of the salaryman standing above him. On the overhead screen, three line-drawn animations bow in unison to explain the mechanics of a delayed connection, their faces […]
Emly held her breath. She gazed at the backyard through the locked sliding glass doors. The air smelled of Watermelon Smash Buzz Balls, sleazy confectionary perfume, and B.O. Edgar’s parents were away. Twenty-two juvenile delinquents sporting incompetent neon tattoos and black tank tops overran the townhouse in a gated community in Coral Harbour, Florida. There […]
