ISSUE 12.1 welcome issue contents > fiction > nonfiction > poetry > art contributors interviews our editors Dominic Anton“A genocide unfolds in Rwanda while people dance at Woodstock in America.” Marc Audet“Once big money got involved, starting a family meant participating in a financially driven Darwinian survival of the richest type of game.” Nicholas Caccamo “It feels great to have this story that I wrote the first draft of twenty-plus years ago now out there in the world—this one is special to me.” Duane Engelhardt“I have always loved stories of pirates and treasure hunting, so it felt natural to incorporate those tales into the story.” Karina Dove Escobar“Writing in a magical realist way helps me explore the rich spirit that exists in the world.” Audrey Fatone“Since then, I have identified myself more as a part of the ecosystem instead of a visitor.” Joel Fishbane“There are a lot of clues peppered throughout and I think it’s a story that rewards multiple reads.” Melissa Gibson“Paris, too, is complicated for me, and that complication persists. It never is the perfect place I want it to be or some magical cure to life. It is just itself, forever and always.” Daniel Gleason“In a way, this poem is an attempt to try on a new mode of praying, something like “praying without ceasing,” but with halting, unconventional, and at times broken prayers.” Robert Haynes“If a drag queen can inspire a child to pick up a book or view the world with curiosity and wonder, then we are all enriched because of it.” Regina Landor“I would thank him for being my playmate, for being such a good friend, and for believing in me. And I’d probably ask him if he wanted to go get some ice cream, my treat.” Isabella Mason“It was absolutely cathartic to put the way I felt on the page and be able to edit, delete, shape and tweak to my heart’s desire—it bought me a sense of control that I hadn’t found otherwise.” Ann Matzke“I learned very early in my career you have to deal with losses, grieve, find the positive, and go on because someone, a patient, parent, co-worker is depending on you.” Samuel McFerron“…my biggest challenge was just being honest with myself and figuring out a way to write a poem that reflects the realities of addiction without romanticizing it.” Adam Rotstein“I often don’t know anything, so this was one of the few examples of me attempting the ‘write what you know’ adage.” Lucas Selby “Time is the only thing holding us back from becoming our perfect selves.” John Sieber“We’re animals, through and through. We are meant to be surrounded by nature; by something much greater than ourselves.” Tara Troiano“I find when I’m in an inspiration drought, nonfiction is a great place to start searching for a new story.” Lindsey Warren“Making each poem collage is like divining a small universe.” Terrance Wedin“It’s all difficult. You gotta try dismantling your sense of self to write anything worth a shit.” Amelia Clare Wright “The exploration of each fabricated instance was also another representation of my exaggerated emotional state at the time; it did and still does feel like a fever dream.”
