Author: Heavy Feather

Five Unfinished Poems for Edward Hopper: Haunted Passages by Matthew Thorburn

—Gas, oil on canvas, 1940 1. This gas man seemslike a banker in his darktie, brown vest, brilliantwhite shirtsleeves,his jacket maybe slung over a chair in the smallwhite station. He tidiesthe rack of oil cans.Turns them label-side out.Bald, unsmiling, alone, not lonely, he lookslike you. And the redenamel pumps waitin silence, heads turnedto look for…
Fiction for Haunted Passages: “Turnpike Dreams” by Dave Nash

Exit 18 – The George Washington Bridge connects the two ledges that rise from deep water in constant motion. On the New Jersey side, one hundred feet had to be blasted out to make it level with New York. Someone is always trying to cut us down, I tell Anna. She says I have a…
“Dear Society, It’s Not Just a Phase”: Nicole Yurcaba Reads Lol Tolhurst’s Historical Memoir Goth

Recently, Entertainment Weekly released a list of the 22 “most important goths in pop culture.” Of course the list included perennial favorites like The Craft’s Nancy Downs, NCIS’ Abby Sciuto, and South Park’s goth kids. It also included some surprises like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Lisbeth Salander and Adventure Time’s Marceline. Nonetheless, the…
Fiction Review: Alex DiFrancesco Reads Tobias Caroll’s Novel In the Sight

While In the Sight, Tobias Carroll’s third novel, is definitely a road novel of a dark America, it’s also a novel with a hook. The main character, Farrier, sells a brain-hacking drug that was created by him and other members of a secret society that’s now defunct. The disintegration of this secret society remains largely…
Poetry Review: G.H. Mosson Reads Hafiz’s Little Book of Life

The 14th century Persian poet Hafez, also spelled in English Hafiz, is one of Iran’s most cherished poets, a Sufi poet working within Islamic culture much like the mystical Sufi poet Rumi. Hafez lived in the city of Shiraz, where he was renowned as a professional reciter of the Koran from memory as well as…
Side A Poem: “Wandering” by Peter Leight

Wandering (Sailing) It’s a small boata child among boatsit only takes a second to walkfrom the front of the boatto the back and backagain under slender stringsof smoke rising over the boatover the water spreadingash on the waterholding onto the ropesto keep them from flappingor lifting sheets of smokethat soften without accumulatingor dissolving while the…
New for Haunted Passages: Four Microfictions by Salvatore Difalco

Say Cheese Let’s get this party started, Jack. Got no time to Mickey Mouse around the house tonight. Pirates and pickpockets are on their way. A fun bunch, as you’ll see. Try my special punch, I made it from an ancient Sumerian recipe, it’ll crack your teeth and give you wheels. Meantime I’ll spin some…
“Coupledom, Divorce, and Time’s Fluidity”: Nicole Yurcaba Reads Eugene Lim’s Novel Fog & Car

Rife with love, melancholia, grief, and a supernatural hint, Eugene Lim’s debut novel Fog & Car is a psychological mindbender with the potential to reshape and redefine fiction. It follow Jim Fog, who after a divorce finds himself marooned in a small Midwestern town. Meanwhile, his ex, Sarah Car, seems to skip any regret or…
New Haunted Passages Essay: “giving yrself flowers: an act of love” by Erick Sáenz

“That’s what experience for human is: an amplification and intensification of our sense of ourselves amidst other presences in the world”—Lyn Hejinian // every time we leave the apartment i tend to the camellia bush down the street, varying pink hues smashed against the concrete the streets are unkempt with them // the botanical gardencoffees…