Original Archives - Page 18 of 45

Poetry

Field Notes from the Anthropocene

The imagery is from time spent in the woods, including in an area here with 14,000-year-old glacial soil deposits—how special is that, people clean up your garbage. Back then it would’ve been predominantly oak trees, but we now see a lot more maple, as well as other introduced species. The fireflies . . . the species here overwinter in the soil.

In May 2022 (Issue 116)

Fiction

Esther (1855)

by Juan Martinez

Author spotlight

The Saints saw nothing but rock and scrub, the one lone Joshua tree dead, its arms defeated. They traveled by wagon, the four still alive, their clothes stiff with their own stink and with the smell of dirt. The dead they buried or thought they buried along the way. The animals gone, all but one, and that one fading. They tied casks to the wagon, dragged the wagon themselves, the wagon lighter now because mostly empty.

In May 2022 (Issue 116)

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- Narrated by:
  
  Stefan Rudnicki
- Duration:
  
  15:41
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Fiction

And All Their Silent Roars

by James L. Sutter

Author spotlight

“But why?” Charlotte whined. In the front seat, our mother consulted the map. “I’m not going to keep answering that.” Anyone who’d come within shouting distance of our old house the week before could have done it for her, given how often it had been repeated. Mom’s office was moving her to Binghamton, and Dad had found a new firm there, so that was that.

In May 2022 (Issue 116)

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- Narrated by:
  
  Stefan Rudnicki
- Duration:
  
  36:46
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Fiction

√i

by Martin Cahill

My inspiration for this story combined two separate things: the idea of how terrifying it would be to experience a tornado warning without knowing what you were running from (shout-out to writer Sarah Hollowell!), and a keen interest in the staccato and visceral prose of writer Brian Evenson. These combined to create the story at hand. Written in a single evening, I wanted to see if I could wield language like a hammer.

In Apr. 2022 (Issue 115)

Fiction

Where the Heather Grows

by Shaoni C. White

Author spotlight

Clara drinks from water bottles so she doesn’t have to hear the tap running. She puts all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and leaves the building until it’s done running, just so she doesn’t have to hear it. She does everything she can to avoid the sound. Showers, though—those are trickier. She can’t avoid washing herself forever. So she starts the tap, plugs the bathtub, and waits several rooms away until it’s full enough that she can shut off the tap.

In Apr. 2022 (Issue 115)

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- Narrated by:
  
  Roxanne Hernandez
- Duration:
  
  20:26
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Nonfiction

Homeless Ghosts

by Victor T. Cypert

Growing up in Alabama, our teachers presented a version of the state’s history that resembled Disney’s The Song of the South. It was easy enough to realize that we were being lied to, but without the facts of history we were left to fill in the gaps. We colored in the local haunted house with our own fables and the fables passed down from older siblings. In so doing, we reproduced in symbol if not in word the truths of hoped-for horrors, poisonous wealth, and unimaginable agony.

In Apr. 2022 (Issue 115)

Fiction

Synchronous Online

by Shannon Scott

Author spotlight

It could have been ketchup. Or sriracha sauce. V8 or cranberry juice or pinot noir. It could have been Karo syrup with food coloring as it had been in Carrie or Bosco Chocolate Syrup as in Psycho. It didn’t matter. My dissertation had been on suspension of disbelief in scripted violence, and I knew that as long as the audience agreed that the red scarf pulled from Juliet’s breast was her blood dripping from Romeo’s dagger, it didn’t matter that it was a scarf.

In Apr. 2022 (Issue 115)

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- Narrated by:
  
  Stefan Rudnicki
- Duration:
  
  40:27
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Poetry

Said the Carrion to the Corvus

by Woody Dismukes

Recently, it’s been hard not to feel consumed by outside forces. There’s always someone coming to take something from you. The taxman, the debt collector, familial relations, whomever. This poem is for those who have given everything.

In Mar. 2022 (Issue 114)

Fiction

The First Year

by R.L. Meza

Author spotlight

When you were inside me, I knew you were mine. Now, I’m not so sure. Cradled in my arms, you are an assemblage of parts I recognize: Noah’s cleft chin and narrow ears, my heart-shaped lips and upturned nose. But your eyes are something else. I angle you this way and that, your milk-drunk mouth smearing saliva across my hospital gown while I search your slumbering face for the pull of attachment, waiting for the surge of affection.

In Mar. 2022 (Issue 114)

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- Narrated by:
  
  Emily Rankin
- Duration:
  
  40:27
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Fiction

Skins

by Pedro Iniguez

I’ve always thought that the illicit hunting of baby seals was a cruel and horrifying thing. Putting myself in their position, being out on the ice, vulnerable to humans, their weapons, and their ill intents made me think of this scenario. The story: What would happen if humans were to experience a similar fate?

In Mar. 2022 (Issue 114)