Category: Side A

Poetry for Side A: “And Then It Died” by Heather Pegas

And Then It Died The presentation of the thing was … Spongy Friable Feathered, and Cold. (It had not been looking great for some time.) When we tried to pick it up, it was seen to … Cower, Whimper Hiss, and Snarl. (It gazed upon us in sad disbelief.) For the longest time, we had…
Side A Fiction: “Whirlpool” by Mark Wagstaff

Whirlpool The seaside painter paints what he sees. For tourists who scour the old town shops for authentic memories of their happy days at the beach. Who pay extra for signed and framed, to support artisan crafts. For friends, to settle small debts, though everyone knew these pictures never gained value. As presents, a quaint…
Side A Poem: “Preservations below the Moon” by Salvatore Difalco

Preservations below the Moon “We belong to the earth.”That’s the mushrooms talking.Someone else is sobbing in the shadows,hiding behind piano fingers. “I need to go home.”It ain’t happening, mate.You drove us into a treeand all the colors clashed. Let me tip you overand see if you can roll up again.It’s not winter yet.That explains the…
Side A Prose Poem by Jeffrey Hermann: “Someone’s Making Money Off My Old Problems, Someone Else Is Charging Me for New Ones”

When I call to make a fuss everyone claims to be a manager. Writing for a living is as easy as throwing up in the toilet. Every morning I flip the lid and wait. I once wrote an essay that needed no revisions. The theme was, c’mon, this life? Look harder. Try harder. My skeleton…
Side A Poem: “Levelland” by Kirk Keen

Levelland we impose stark beauty potluck of words to shut your mouth realign velocities our open mouths bless your heart pull up a chair here for your smart phone cotton hoe social media whatever let’s explode the sun everyday cash in on methodist hands warbling poetics of hearing nothing my first day i hold my…
Side A Graphic Essay: “Fire” by Jesse Lee Kercheval

Mini-interview with Jesse Lee Kercheval HFR: Can you share a moment that has shaped you as a writer (or continues to)? JLK: My very first writing teacher—and a wonderful one—was Janet Burroway, who many people know from her textbook Writing Fiction. We met again, after I had finished my first novel, The Museum of Happiness,…
Side A Prose Poem: “Peonies” by Tiffany Troy

Peonies The chiaroscuro of my breasts hanging from my nightgown under the lamp light. His voice soothes as buds take root over my skin in droves. The buttons undone, I open the hem of the dress to my waist, as I take in the day’s sweat and decay. I detach parts of myself as he…
Side A Poem by YF Wang: “Love, There Is a Snake in Your Closet”

I think of you with tapeworms in my tummy, like Medusa had stuck her head through my vagina & at seventeen, Ella tells me she thinks she might be pregnant—“My mother is going to kill me”—she says over the bathroom sink, our skins tattooed by the mirror graffiti. A familiar tune rings out the Wellesley…
Side A Poetry: “It Might as Well Be” by Max Winter

It Might as Well Be Which is a stateIf the weather holdsAnd the wind arrives timelyIf it’s right it’s easyAs being hit by a carOr scooped from a litterHappiness for everybodyAnd a carbonated lime drinkWith a talking sailboatFinishing my sentencesAt moments you think for meLittle boatLittle squireI bequeath you everythingBut we’re not thereYet are weI…