Everything is mutedthe landscapethe sky the peoplein their dull clotheswith their dull faces they walkslowlyto the pub they walkslowlyfrom the pub each day walking, to talkto the same peopleabout the same things there is a boatthat sails from the islandto the mainland each dayand each dayit is empty Continue reading The Island, 1923 by Steve Denehan
Like something out of the film adaptation of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, it seems that Don DeLillo’s White Noise has the power to make the plot points on the page come to life in 2023. More specifically, that plot point about the train derailment near Blacksmith. A fictional town in (you guessed it) Ohio, where White Noise’s protagonist, Jack Gladney, works as … Continue reading From Blacksmith to East Palestine: Don DeLillo Isn’t A Prophet, Just a Realist
I went to the grocery store for milk, and bought limestoo. The cashier asked me if they were lemons. The drive home was uneventful, people walked their dogs,cars sat on the side of the street, some with smashed-in windows. I clocked the price of gas as I passed by the station,but realized I had no reference. I buy gas so rarely now. The person in … Continue reading How It Feels to Float No. 2 by Andrew Hudson Barter
he jumped headfirstbut before each lengthhe read a stanza from a poemand during each fifty metershe engraved each stanza in his brain as many stanzasas many lengths when he finishedhe recited the poemto those presentat the pool’s cafeteria he left damp pagesfrom his notebookin the locker room trash can Continue reading In the Swimming Pool by Gabor Gyukics
I’m not racist but…he droned onI listenednoddingat what I guessedwere the right times he told me about his promotionhis new carrecent and upcoming holidaysbefore askingif I could lend him some money he fed me old jokesintellectual psychobabblepretentiousnesspeppered with obscure references we had known each otherfor a long timehe had talked and I had listenedfor a long time I had not expectednot even consideredthat I might … Continue reading True, For the Most Part by Steve Denehan
