ISSUE 34 | NOV 2013

BAIT AND SWITCH

Illustration by Wesley Ryan Clapp

« Stomach is to girlfriend as belly is to lover » - the inherent paraeschatological loneliness - quickly devolves into scrawling - the kind of belief in « sexual openness » which belies a secret hysterical terror - smudge the screen - « friend crush » is misguidedly utilitarian - a pseudo-schizotypal field - the maeshite and nochishite - lust-space - « Fuck you »

Tessa Cheek

The Dry Sea

« CIVILIZED » - like beautiful, pastel river stones - a cantaloupe-borne listeria outbreak - shoot blind - beautiful and strange and beautiful - Velcro-buckled shoes - Skyping with yourself - The Budget Host

Danya Lagos

Radical Hospitality

the artisanal, the crafted, and the shared - precisely how kosher - purchased nods towards conscience - necessary to intervene - MANIFESTO - art of welcoming and caring - at least one actual chair - one collective host - venting, advice, and stir fry - all sorts of noodles will not kill you - These need to have stories

Michael Kinnucan

No Children

born between 1996 and 1998 - adulthood is a vague rumor - her sole audience, her English teacher - elaborate protocols of care and concern - stability, safety, role models of appropriate genders - to read a Dickens novel is - little humans require

Caroline Lemak Brickman

Vigil: for Paul Celan

Insomnia - I read, I did not get far - the catalogue of ships - now and again - deepest into the strange - froth of god - Lo - black and eloquent

Wendy Lotterman

The Runners

gummy bears to stragglers - its ability soothe - free bagel at the party on the stoop - prophylactic like the zinc tablets - misaligned / because, God, I can’t - my kiddish ways

Ray Osborn

Wasp

I see / the bee - and jealous - until