The Other Option by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

No No thank you No thank you   No thank you! Just no  Just not feeling it Just not not  not notno   No!   NO!! What part of no   DON’T you understand? N   O   Please remove your hand Please remove your hand No None of that    None   Nada Nada thing   Nothing   Silence The Unspoken  The Refusal  Not    the UN-Lived Not    the    i couldn’t care lessNot    the silence of indifference or recusal nor the conspiracy of consent Not the absence of yes But no   Just no  No to submissionNo is … Continue reading The Other Option by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

Viens! by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

Ten years agoin ParisYou were rapedby the tongues of peacocksand told it was Paradise Todayyou standa little left                 of the Mirrorfanning yourselfwith liesannouncing your own arrivalwith nothing left to say Whereis the smileyou stretched across canvasbefore you learned to paint You say nothingwith so many featherswhile I sip passionlikean elephantthrough a straw Continue reading Viens! by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

A Child’s Hellscape of Verses by Gary Keenan

Sing a song of sixpence spent on killingA popular hobby but never quite fulfilling I wish for day, I wish for mightTo survive the drones each night Round and round in circles, dizzy in despairStumble on a landmine and disappear Little Mohamet sat on a bucket eating a crust of stale breadAlong came a sniper with a .50 cal rifle and shot off Mohamet’s head … Continue reading A Child’s Hellscape of Verses by Gary Keenan

Why Emerald Fennell’s Adaptation of Wuthering Heights Is Such a Hot-Button Issue for the Stodgier Side of the Literary World Right Now (And Why It Shouldn’t Be)

It’s not any kind of “shocking revelation” that what’s left of the “book business” is mostly in shambles. And that what it takes to “monetize” literature in the present is a decidedly “bread and circuses” approach. Never was that made more apparent than the advent of “BookTok.” However, with Emerald Fennell’s latest film, a “version” of Wuthering Heights (that she opted to put in quotation … Continue reading Why Emerald Fennell’s Adaptation of Wuthering Heights Is Such a Hot-Button Issue for the Stodgier Side of the Literary World Right Now (And Why It Shouldn’t Be)

Turning the Corner by Mike Lee

When Deidre crossed Broadway against the traffic and stepped onto the curb, phone in hand, it was a transformative—albeit confusing—moment. A moment when the choice, for Henry, was to stare with stunned amazement or suddenly perform surrealist-influenced performance art. She was a good kid until she chose to manipulate and triangulate, until she was trapped in a corner, like a cheap 1950s wind-up doll, arms … Continue reading Turning the Corner by Mike Lee

Their Hunt by August Truly

Hedge fund managers hiring,Former heads of state that is, No debating on who made who great,Capital escaped the state,Gulfstream-numbers high altitudes,Worldwide Proletariat down bad, left with the weight, The infinite conservatorship,The sheep yap ‘bout concealed carry permits somewhere over there,DEI centurions caught up in they “massas’” skirmishes,The Dutch, The Hague, the truth, the way,The #1 EU_funder of a world’s sunken place,I mean placeholders, Demons backpacking from f.k.a. Middle East … Continue reading Their Hunt by August Truly

Cathedral for Bad Decisions by Dee P. R. Kay

“You know we could kill all these people, and they wouldn’t even see it coming,” Aaron said, as we were walking around Nick’s neighborhood in Pelham, after getting shot at by farmers on four-wheelers in a cow field in Chelsea for trespassing to harvest mushrooms. Psilocybe cubensis, if you wanna get specific. We all just looked at Aaron, pretending to be in shock. We weren’t … Continue reading Cathedral for Bad Decisions by Dee P. R. Kay

Michael Douglas Movies Document a “Crisis of Masculinity” Trajectory, Or: Jessa Crispin’s What Is Wrong With Men Answers That Question and Then Some

It’s no secret at this juncture that there has been an ongoing “crisis of masculinity.” What that means, ultimately, is that most hetero men can’t fathom why their continued performance of outmoded masculine “ideals” aren’t translating and/or attracting women in the present. Enter Jessa Crispin to explain it all via the films of Michael Douglas, in a book titled What Is Wrong With Men. With … Continue reading Michael Douglas Movies Document a “Crisis of Masculinity” Trajectory, Or: Jessa Crispin’s What Is Wrong With Men Answers That Question and Then Some