America's Most Critical Journal since 1999
I Was Melania Trump’s Body Double by Bob Ross The colonel called me into the office on a Tuesday. I’d just started my shift, hadn’t had my coffee yet, so I wasn’t expecting anything. To be honest, I was barely awake. “Ever put on women’s clothes, B... More »
Sonnets for Senior Sirens by Kelly Sheehan Heath “Look at ‘em.” I mutter to Sabella, shielding my eyes and squinting at the gaggle perching on the other end of the sun-drenched rock. “Gabbing and laughing like the only ones for miles around! Does it ... More »
Confessions of a Germaphobe by Clark Zlotchew Year 2 BCP (Before the Covid Pandemic): I, Edwin Q. Lillypad III, am known by friends and mortal enemies alike, as a germaphobe. With good reason. I have a deathly fear of germs, as should every sane person. ... More »
The Persian Version by Jeffrey Meyers In June 1971 my wife and I drove across Turkey in a Volkswagen bug without seat belts or air conditioning and reached Iran during the fading years of the Shah, who would flee the country in 1979. Fifty years ago Iran, cl... More »
Japan and Korea: Delights and Horrors by Jeffrey Meyers After completing my two-year appointment at UCLA in 1965 and leaving my year-long English girlfriend there, I had a longing to travel and spent the next year teaching college courses for air force personn... More »
Goodnight Mold By Casey Alexander Ben was partway through his morning pigeon salute. It was an inhospitable morning; he stood on the balcony with an umbrella, waiting for one to appear. Thus far, his call had gone unanswered. Of course, they were under no obli... More »
New Salem University by Bill Curtis “Why does Socrates end the dialogue by talking about a myth of all things? Isn’t that puzzling? Isn’t myth the very antithesis of philosophy?” The professor surveyed the room and the six students it held. Three were ... More »
by Jeffrey Meyers As a college student I’d been traveling alone for a month through Greece, Yugoslavia and Germany, where I didn’t know the languages, and had scarcely spoken to anyone all that time. When I boarded the Rhine River boat in Heidelberg I sa... More »
By Louis Marvick ‘But how the devil did it come about in the first place,’ I asked, ‘that the conductor of a great symphony orchestra was demoted to the office of attendant in the monkey house at the zoo? That’s surely an unusual career move.’ I had ... More »
Loved, Solvent, Alive Casey Alexander A hostile-looking woman flickered onto the screen. As the established employee, Erin enjoyed the privilege of drabness: she’d thrown a cardigan over her nightgown. Anne, on the other hand, was corporate glam to the waist... More »
Silent Night, Holy Night Sona Lea Dombourian I have changed my foreign ways and am reborn. Imbued with the Spirit, I will go West and expand my dominion over all creatures, puny despite their efforts, sub-intelligent because of their origins. But a thorn persi... More »