Writing is an act of resistance
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Monarchy
By Matthew Nelson Hendryx The warrant for my informant’s arrest meant meeting in a public place where we could keep track of anyone approaching. We settled for the revamped carousel on the National Mall. He could watch in all directions as we rotated. I, freelance reporter Stacy Prickelton, was meeting with a prominent member of…
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The Beast Come Round
By J David Cummings “Everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.” —W. B. Yeats, 1919 It is born, it is here, it moves among us, not as nightmare, the comforts of metaphor, but in the real of time. Mothers are caged and raped, girls are raped, children are stolen. The children die. Close-watched boys…
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Monster’s Lullaby
By Elka Scott The first time someone called you a monster you swallowed your own teeth without chewing like so many unanswered prayers. It did not make you more human but it made silence easier, made you more acceptable. You walked into the world without bite and consumed yourself from the inside out. The…
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The Last Straw
By Corey Miller The entire world was transfixed by the TV. In all languages, the broadcasters described the atmosphere in the room. The camera zoomed in on the lucky woman chosen; next to her, a polished glass and a bottle of Coca Cola. All went quiet. Earth held its breath. The woman cracked the…
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Brigade
By Alia Hussain Vancrown fireflies talk to each other with light in some firefly species only one sex lights up (but let’s not make that everything) in most species both sexes glow fireflies produce cold light two chemicals are in a firefly’s tail: luciferase and luciferin and here the story begins the…
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To the Twenty-Five Percent of You
By Mark Williams Consider the time my dad and I took classes at the Exum climbing school in the Tetons, and one of our classmates was Carol Lawrence. Maria of West Side Story Carol Lawrence. Nicest woman you’d ever want to meet, Carol, and who wouldn’t want to meet her, with that voice and pleasant smile…
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No Drone
By Willa Carroll Willa Carroll is the author of Nerve Chorus, one of Entropy magazine’s Best Poetry Books of 2018 and a SPD Bestseller. A finalist for The Georgia Poetry Prize, she was the winner of Tupelo Quarterly’s TQ7 Poetry Prize and Narrative magazine’s Third Annual Poetry Contest. Her poems have appeared in AGNI, LARB Quarterly Journal, The Rumpus, Tin House, and elsewhere. Video readings…
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How to Not Be “Racist”
By Tara Campbell Neighbors, These are difficult times for True Patriots. With election season coming up, the lamestream media is going to start sniffing around our peaceful Neighborhood, asking for our opinions on things. You never know when an Enemy of the State is going to stick a microphone in your face, waiting for…
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How to Eat a Soldier
By Matt Pasca Lobsters mate for life—on menus they are called lobster. And all’s fair in fowl: duck called duck, chicken chicken—the winged as unrenamed as the sea. But cow & pig & deer, stars of the big screen as Elsie & Babe & Bambi— we unmammal their meat with abstraction: Beef. Pork. Venison.…