I was born in the haze of summerThe year my sisterBecame a teenagerA silver threadIntertwining us High heels and L.A. GearsWalking side by side1980s babiesIn different tones Practicing her perfected pout in my mirrorHer lipstick. MAC’s Ruby Woo.Dancing in her bedroomGeorge Michael was both of our firsts. As I turned into a teenagerI walked in her borrowed heelsAs she walked down the aisleand into a … Continue reading Silver Thread by Stephanie Watkins
Although Harriet the Spy was once classifiable as a piece of “baby boomer history,” the adaptation of Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 novel into a Nickelodeon movie released in 1996 re-rendered it into an instant classic of millennial childhood. And yes, it was typical of the generation that, in order for a book to be “received,” it had to be a film (e.g., Matilda, Jumanji, The Iron … Continue reading Whether They Knew It or Not, Michelle Trachtenberg Subliminally Influenced Many a Millennial Writer, Or: Harriet the Spy and Writing
“How frequently has melancholy and even misanthropy taken possession of me…“-Mary Wollstonecraft My life is the size of a Cheerio—brittle as oats,something missing in the center.Rooms cramped and dismal, dust mites lurk in every crevice.My life’s soul is the same as everyone else’s soulbut without the music—only a base trackhumming with the low vibrationof an electric fence. It grows moodyand remote the way dry winter aircracks … Continue reading I Hate the Whole World by Dale Champlin
In 1999, Jennifer Lopez released her first record, On the 6—a title that alluded to her commute from the Bronx to Manhattan while working her early jobs as a dancer. Perhaps Cory Leadbeater thought better of titling his memoir the same, opting instead for The Uptown Local, which says as little about Joan Didion as the book itself…but “at least” readers know he had to … Continue reading The Uptown Local, Or: Listening to On the 6 Might Be a Better Experience
1. I’m lost in this life 2. Is this the end of this fucking world? 3. Matcha for survival 4. Paul the polygamist 5. Communist or anarchist 6. The solution: neuroleptics 7. Capitalism 8. Pink vodka 9. Hangover 10. Fake eyelashes for big eyebags 11. Let’s go back to Paul 12. Appreciation 13. Then, depression 14. Like a Virgin is the second studio album by … Continue reading Checklist by Paloma Sabatier
His daughter, Penny, perches on the piano stool, delivering an exegesis on being dissociative as the father sits calmly on the cat-clawed leather chair, gob-smacked. Fortunately, this ramble only comes occasionally, but when she starts, he sinks into the worn black leather until he is one with the fabric. Penny has been erratic since the summer before college. This included arguments that ended with the … Continue reading A Morning by Mike Lee
Why is your mouth an open wound that never weeps? Surely you own a sound that can open at least one door to Heaven that can enter me whole or not at all Even the city cries at night I have heard it sobbing under the straining metal of its mighty erections I have heard it moan under the topple of stars that melt in the sky Dying streetlamps stare back at the press of your body as you pour yourself into … Continue reading Enter Me Whole or Not at All by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko
My friends are dying. Aren’t yours? It seems like weekly. I hope it’s not contagious. I want to die later after I learn how to breathe without wearing my shoulders like bunny ears. I want to wait until my chest stays open for most of the day and my hands don’t clench or claw. I want some days during which soft is the first word … Continue reading America by Leanne Grabel
I don’t want to be a teacher anymore,even though the webpage tells me it’s the most relevant job,wheel of algorithms, spinning me through rejection.It does not know that the system leaves me dragged into disbelief,with kids who can’t read going to sixth grade. The job hunt continues;stuck making cover letters, convincing myselfthere’s interest in a job that tells me to rest two days a week,that … Continue reading People by Onix N. Vanga
Michelle Chouinard might not have intended to write a tear-jerker with her new mystery novel, The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco, but that’s what she ended up doing via the final page in the book: the Acknowledgements. While many readers foolishly choose to skip over this part of a novel, some of the best “tidbits” and nuances can be found within these few (or … Continue reading The Most Gut-Wrenching Acknowledgements Page of All Time Is Hiding in the Pages of a Mystery Novel Called The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco
