Translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon (Brooklyn, NY: Archipelago Books, 2016) There’s something I don’t quite trust about light. Maybe it’s the disconnect between the seemingly arbitrary speed at which it travels and the fundamental role that speed serves … Continued
I just wanted to be changed. I mean I wanted to be changed more than anything in this world. See that morning I was down at Rite Aid with my Uncle Terry copying some of my Grandma’s old pictures when … Continued
(Albany, NY: Excelsior Editions, 2015) A close friend of mine once compared reading good short stories to eating potato chips; you start with the best intention of eating a few delicious, salty, crunchy chips, and end up staring regretfully into … Continued
I. The floor slants from the door down to the window, so that if the occupant is struck with a sudden compulsion to fly through glass and air, this room provides an adequate runway. I lie flat against the wood, … Continued
Try telling the boy who’s just had his girlfriend’s name cut into his arm that there’s slippage between the signifier and the signified. Or better yet explain to the girl who watched in the mirror as the tattoo artist stitched … Continued
(New York, NY: Twelve Publishers, 2011) Since the dawn of man, humans have always enjoyed a good monkey story. The Monkey King of Chinese mythology is sort of a super monkey, who cast spells, is an expert at wielding his … Continued
This is how he lived, with a messianic faith in his uniqueness. Every parishioner he touched, he became. This was mostly to the good. Gracious and stiff with his hand on the burgomaster’s cloak. Pedantic and disappointed when slipping the … Continued
My real life—or what I think of as my real life—began in fiction. It was late March 1959. Earlier that month, I had turned fifteen, an occasion I had celebrated by nearly killing myself with a bottle of whiskey. In … Continued
I first met Brian Bradford underneath a sign that read “The Meeting Place.” We were in London’s Heathrow airport, waiting for a bus to pick us up and deliver us to a ten day writing residency in the secluded English … Continued
Outback sunshine penetrated the linen blinds and stretched out across Jacob, casting stripes of shadow at his feet. He laced up his boots and filled the pockets of his cargo shorts with his keys and wallet and strapped in the … Continued
I have lost all luscious dreams beyond all kingdoms of thought. But then I feel a little happy thinking of you the way we invite our love to the table to eat what’s left; I make a stream connecting the … Continued
(Buffalo, NY: sunnyoutside, 2015) I’ve suffered fits of insomnia since I was young. I’d wake my mother at 2 a.m. to “roast marshmallows” (her paired socks) on “the grill” (her blanket-covered legs) or to tell her stories about multiplication, butterflies, … Continued
You cry at the Sun Door then rush into the light. Is it feathered there—is it lined with pliant mousy fats? Is this where smell and sight combine? Are the roses lions’ heads? Are the roses ornamental, or is their … Continued
It had been about two years since my sister and I had last seen each other, and I’d neglected to pick her up at the airport. Neglected as in unable. Unable as in drunk. Sister as in disapproving authority figure … Continued
(New York, NY: Tyrant Books, 2015) Clancy Martin’s Bad Sex is not just a novel about bad decisions. It’s about all the ways a human being can unravel, one loose thread leading to another, and then another, until nothing but … Continued
On the shoulder of St Jerome a bird speaks but cannot write and afraid of the past tense speaks prophecy The saint is the bird’s way of delivering messages but translation is difficult god’s voice or not and we have … Continued
Every evening now I serve you butter chicken all cream and cardamom on a bed of jasmine rice with a bottle of Black Sheep Ale imported from England and later we make love with the lights turned off for the … Continued
(High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire: And Other Stories, 2015) At first glance, the eleven stories in Ivan Vladislavić’s collection 101 Detectives, recently released by And Other Stories, range so widely in style and subject matter, that the book can prove a puzzle … Continued
I’m dancing tonight. Smog adrift lakeside. Smog and low clouds meeting in a mix above the industrial center and warehouses. I’m dancing in, through each party, threading through and back. The party is days old. I store a change of … Continued
(Portland, OR: Tin House Books, 2016) Jim Krusoe’s surreal novel The Sleep Garden begins with four profound questions coupled to a whimsical statement of doubt: Where are we? How did we get here? Where are we going? And anyway, … Continued
An accident has occurred. The accident is no cause for alarm. Unanticipated events have led to unintended consequences. All evidence has been removed to an undisclosed area so that authorities may conduct a thorough investigation of the accident. Until the … Continued
(Singapore: Verbivoracious Press, 2015) One angle: Jeff Bursey’s new novel Mirrors on Which Dust Has Fallen tells the story of a fictional working class Canadian town called Bowmount, and in exploring the mundane lives of its residents, the author is … Continued
If I’d just pointed to something green, we could have moved on. It was the most important question ever asked. Someone should have built a carnival tent around it. Step right up, folks, ten cents gets you an answer. Arugula? … Continued
(New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2010) Thomas E. Kennedy dedicates In the Company of Angels to “those who have endured what I can scarcely begin to imagine; and for those that will not be indifferent.” Torture—the unspeakable pain and fear suffered … Continued
1. Rabbit Oiled silk and red eye, knows nervous twitches. Your jaw across the table clasps me quiet. Make a muscle, hunched over hind legs primed for flight. Cotton blows roadside, tell tale belly fur, scared white. You’ve … Continued
(Interval: Poems Based on Bach’s “Goldberg Variations.” Tucson, AZ: Schaffner Press, 2015) Echoing the rigid form of the source material, in which the same aria both begins and ends a sequence of variations, Canadian pianist Glen Gould’s first and last recordings … Continued
(Seattle, WA and New York, NY: Wave Books, 2015) In October I had the pleasure of attending the Vegas Valley Book Festival, including the panel “Literary Nonfiction: The Elegance of Truth.” Among other topics, panelist Mike Sager, an award-winning journalist, … Continued
At home it’s usually quiet. You hear an occasional motor, bird squabble at the feeder, occasional drone of a plane. Today in town sound overwhelms me with an opus of engines. Power saws squeal a descending scale of metal against … Continued
Oh Idea, I try to by Jolly. I love you with my wooden sides. My flapping cardboard mast. Roll my name along, please, with your bearings. Merrily I’ll climb back into the Metal Caul. I fear we’ve hyphenated. ### Amy … Continued
(The City at Three P.M.: Writing, Reading, and Travelling. Ann Arbor, MI: Dzanc Books, 2015) As a kid of the 70’s from a rural town in the upper Midwest, I dreamt of seeing the world. I used to mail-order foreign … Continued