dreams.com/true by Jérémy Bernard

Awake I check the fridge: notice the habitual lack of food, close fridge, disappointed. Half an hour later I lower my standards: check the fridge again, notice half of a lemon and some possibly expired cream cheese, close fridge, disappointed. Another half hour passes: I find a stack of crackers stuck between the two cushions of my couch, open fridge, take the lemon and cream … Continue reading dreams.com/true by Jérémy Bernard

The Weightiness of a “Small” Event: Annie Ernaux’s L’événement

Maybe there’s a reason you can’t spell “foetus” without “foe.” At least not in British English. In any case, Annie Ernaux must have feared on some level that future generations would need a reminder of how harrowing life in a country where abortion is outlawed can be. Women of the present might have grown accustomed to the apparent “luxury” of having access to a safe, … Continue reading The Weightiness of a “Small” Event: Annie Ernaux’s L’événement

Des scènes d’un match de foot by Xavier Jones

Le ventre de la Place de la Révolution s’était rempli par des masses parisiennes assoiffées de justice. Ce jour froid de janvier, ils boiraient chaud. Mais ce jour-là, la boisson serait épicée d’un ingrédient inconnu depuis l’ascension des premiers rois d’histoire: l’égalité. Le devoir ne s’est fait ni sans hésitation, ni avec un zèle sanguinaire non plus. La seule espèce de cérémonie, le roulement insolent … Continue reading Des scènes d’un match de foot by Xavier Jones

New Mexico Finally Gets a Hardboiled Detective in Max Talley’s Santa Fe Psychosis

When it comes to the noir genre as it pertains to place, perhaps one still immediately thinks of Raymond Chandler and his macabre view of Los Angeles as seen through the lens of Philip Marlowe. Then, of course, there’s always the archetypal curmudgeonly detective of the East Coast, usually (and vexingly) based in New York. But few authors, if any, have dared to set their … Continue reading New Mexico Finally Gets a Hardboiled Detective in Max Talley’s Santa Fe Psychosis

When You Are On the Menu by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

It begins with an itch  then another   and another– those screaming red eruptions  on arms   legs    and unmentionables (Isn’t life a bitch!) the tell-tale sign of corruption– bloodstains on your pillow the viscous film of wet dream on your shrinking fitted sheets   Who are they?  these creeps these mites   small flat parasites   big appetites that live in dark places   alleyways   hidden spaces who feed off you   in excess before they retire to the comfort of your bed where they enjoy easy access   Yum while you lay … Continue reading When You Are On the Menu by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

Why I Am Not A Scientist by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

It’s what I’m for,and everything else against;  interwoven along the cosmic fence,sovereign principle in action:  what is shall always remain,although invisible.  I can see —but feeling believe I know.  Love bears the whole through a universeeveryone bleeds.  What is must remain,even though unrepeatable:  only world, only soul;only heart ever possible to acquire  or acquaint—statement of the obvious,tipped toward the point of oblivion,  which every science … Continue reading Why I Am Not A Scientist by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper