Enter the Bassoon John Davis __________ You naughty boy, you bedpost with bad indigestion. Someone is tonguing you, buzzing you, running a Hungarian rhapsody through you. You puff-a-puff noise, call it notes of a wind ensemble. They are grunts of a pig. Someone has let a pig control the woodwind…
Read MoreRecital in Black for Dotty Belkap Roger Camp __________ The view from the front row seat is of the performers’ feet a trio of classical musicians violinist, cellist, pianist. Their instruments’ unsightly skins accompanied by finger smudges their dress black shoes playing back pedestrian scuffs. The stage is a set…
Read MoreIn the Style Of… James Brubaker __________ Here is Ohio. And here is Dayton, and here is a suburb, a strip mall, a bar—a karaoke bar. I am neither a patron, nor an employee. I am something else entirely, sick with anticipation, throbbing from the bar’s early evening quiet. I…
Read MoreTicket to Ride Angela Ball __________ Why did I not ask my father to stop at the drive-in to get my sister the foot-long hot dog she had asked for? Because when we neared it, “Ticket to Ride” was playing on the radio, and I couldn’t speak. Why not? The…
Read MoreLetter from the Guest Editor Karris Rae __________ I started on my first instrument when I was seven—my mom’s old snare drum, already dimpled from years of use. I didn’t stick with it long (how long could I spend on a single note?), but I’d have more luck with the…
Read MoreLetter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Last summer, I saw the best concert of my life, at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan. The band was Sparks, who originated in 1971; it remains painful to me that I did not discover Sparks until 2015. And there is a part…
Read MoreReplacement Mia Bonds and Alexandria Knight, Editorial Assistants __________ The thing sleeping next to me is not my husband. It looks just like him. The same black [18 across] [3 down] with grey, the same moles forming [6 across] on its face. It sounds like him too, mostly. Voice low…
Read MoreA Bird Taking a Shit Like a Dog Ben Belcher __________ __________ Ben Belcher is an illustrator, multimedia artist, and string band musician. He is primarily self-taught across all areas. He began pursuing pen and ink illustration and 5-string banjo around 2002. He is a member of two long-running, internationally…
Read MoreGood Friday Julia Johnson __________ Today even crueler than yesterday, you in your suit, tucked in, great and holy Friday. I keep you in the book I do not hold. The brave clouds roll in. Maybe you were meant to balance a glass on your head in my dream. Maybe…
Read More