Author: Heavy Feather

Saturday Morning Chapbook: Ryan Bollenbach on Jake Syersak’s VORTEX(T) (COAST|noCOAST)

Was William Wordsworth a Terminator sent back to the 18th century by Skynet to induce the self-defeating anthropocentric solipsism? A solipsism inherent in his oft-misquoted statement that good poetry is “a spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling” without the “reflection” and “deep thought” of the equation acknowledged? What does “deep thought” look like in the Anthropocene?…
The Future: DEAR WOLFMOTHER, a post-apocalyptic, digital novel in four parts by Matthew Burnside

The WOLFMOTHER quartet is a post-apocalyptic digital novel that will unfold in four serialized installments / seasons / operatic movements of which the first two are available: [ALLEGRO /// SUMMER] & [ADAGIO /// AUTUMN]. It’s a non-commercial artifact using a number of public domain images, creative commons music and artwork (all fully credited), a Wix…
Mike Corrao’s Notes on the Authorial Flux of Swerve: A Novel of Divergence by Vincent James, McCormick Templeman, & Rowland Saifi

We are operating within a set of obfuscated constraints—ones which we can detect, and to an extent identify, but not fully understand. There are dice rolls, geographical mapping/organization, references to other texts, and large-scale tethering to their themes/narratives/motifs. But the practical ways that these tools are used is done so out of our view. Behind…
“while we wait for a vaccine,” a Bad Survivalist poem by Michele Popadich

i flock to the lawless. bleachmy hair purple & lob uneven bangs.finally, a stranger to wave to in the foggy medicinecabinet. the sink sprouts split ends & i ask a boyup. pinky my finger into his elasticband. he replaces the cat that has been tuckedbetween my legs for seven months. i write storiesthat mean nothing…
“Angel Gone Rogue”: Silverfish, a Clash Books novella by Rone Shavers, reviewed by Moazzam Sheikh

I once translated a highly symbolic story by one of the finest modern Urdu writers Intizar Husain, “A Senseless Upheaval,” where the central character is a bygone era, excavated recently. Proof after proof, we come to understand how social and religious intolerance ushered that era’s gradual declensions and final eclipse. Silverfish’s last chapter, the epilogue,…
Grace Yannotta & Hayden Park: Reflections on Winning The 2020 Zachary Doss Friends in Letters Memorial Fellowship

Ryan Bollenbach here. Heavy Feather Review is publishing short pieces on the blog from writers who have collaborated on previous projects in order to give potential collaborators ideas and stoke excitement for The Zachary Doss Friends in Letters Memorial Fellowship (collaboration itself being the biggest takeaway I hope to create from all this). Please read…
“Digital Dreaming in Analog”: A Haunted Passages Short Story by Matthew Burnside

TUTORIAL It was on the thirteenth stage of one of those marble simulator games that Maxwell encountered a glitch and accidentally stole a glimpse of eternity. He was rolling full tilt toward the prismatic net when a ghost sparrow distracted him and he shot off a little too far to the right, ending up on…
Erin Lyndal Martin: “Mahat-Pad Meditation,” an exercise for Bad Survivalist

Today we are going to do the Mahat-Pad visualization from ancient times. Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down where you can be undisturbed. As you settle in, turn your attention to your body. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Notice where you are holding onto tension in your body, and let the…
“The Taxidermist”: Poetry from The Future by Jonas I. Tijerino

This city of ours, whose land reaches across its two lakes like the arm of a drowning Man, is burdened by the Taxidermist and his tourniquet.For a testament to the heart of our nation resides at the heart of our city, dividing it, and Likethe foxes and snakes decorating its offices, what the Taxidermist leaves…