In the fire time we lived for days without sunlight or air. You and I grew up in the eastern Washington desert, the dry side of the Cascades, where we spoke of rain the way we spoke of the dead: with reverence, with longing, without hope of return. We lived in the country, and I […]
Issue 80
Rachel Chalmers: Light Industrial
1. A streak of blood “Darling, it’s me, Pats,” says the telephone. John wipes the crunchy bits out of the corners of his eyes and tries to wake up. “Talked Nige into it. You’re on. Can you start today? Before he changes his mind. When can you be here?” It’s seven am. “Come as soon […]
Mathias Svalina: The Stomach Ache
(for 1 to 6 players) One child is the Stomach. The other children are the Aches. A rectangle is drawn in the dirt & the Stomach is blindfolded, ear-plugged & made to lie inside the rectangle. The Aches run in an oval around the rectangle & scream. As they scream the Aches bump into one […]
Mathias Svalina: Animal Chase
(for 5 or more players) Two bases are marked off, at either end of America. Each child takes the name of an Animal. One child is It. He stands in the center of America & writes newspaper columns about the decline of America. He starts a radio show & becomes tremendously influential. He begins to […]
Josh Rathkamp: For the First Time in Years
She reached in to the second drawer down, the one beneath her socks, the one that held everything: Nyquil, allergy pills, a bag of spare toothbrushes, and in her hand she offered a green one to me, led me down the hallway, showed me the toothpaste behind the bathroom mirror, the shelf above the toilet, […]
Yvonne C. Murphy: Nests
I can’t get settled, the floor scattered with boxes, each day filled with unpacking, placing and building. Pigeons shuffle on the fire escape or sleep with heads tucked into iridescent necks, pacing on the windowsills, gray bodies anchored by pinkish feet. Zut, zut – nests plastered with shit, feathers and dirt, flu and viruses levitate […]