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

Genna RivieccioFebruary 22, 2026Leave a comment

Poetry

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

Genna RivieccioFebruary 21, 2026Leave a comment

Poetry

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

Genna RivieccioFebruary 19, 2026Leave a comment

Criticism, Essay

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)

Genna RivieccioFebruary 18, 2026February 18, 2026Leave a comment

Fiction

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

Genna RivieccioFebruary 17, 2026Leave a comment

Poetry

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

Genna RivieccioFebruary 15, 2026Leave a comment

Fiction

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

Genna RivieccioFebruary 9, 2026Leave a comment

Prose Poetry

Metaphysics by Robert Witmer

I know I am going to regret this but I want to say something about death. Not death in general, but my own death. That event of utmost uncertainty. The luck that got me here presumably peters out, drops the ball, as it were, folds, takes one for the team and determines, by way of virtually indisputable statistical evidence, to give up the ghost. Yeah. … Continue reading Metaphysics by Robert Witmer

Genna RivieccioFebruary 6, 2026Leave a comment

Prose Poetry

Il Ritorno di Ringo by Robert Witmer

I keep trying to explain it to Ringo. My dog, a golden retriever. I didn’t mean to leave it behind. Not at first anyway. Ringo’s willing to fetch whatever it is, but I keep trying to explain. We just can’t go there. Private property. The law. The right to bear arms. What’s left be damned. The River Styx in your craw, my pet peeve. The … Continue reading Il Ritorno di Ringo by Robert Witmer

Genna RivieccioFebruary 4, 2026Leave a comment

Criticism, Essay

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

Genna RivieccioJanuary 31, 2026Leave a comment