What is Deserved

by Liz Betz

Issue No. 280 ~ September, 2020

Julie’s face hardens to match her thoughts. Sid might be her only son, but he has no right to tell her what to do. The wooden cremation container, now emptied of her late husband’s ashes, makes a great footstool. Haven’t other lodge residents said how …

The Beginning of an End

by Max Johansson-Pugh

Issue No. 280 ~ September, 2020

After returning the pamphlet to where it had lain, Johan shouldered on his jacket, slumped down onto the porch, and pulled on his leather shoes – tying the final knot, muddied water wrung out onto the tongue. ‘What does it mean by ‘verdant’?’ He thought. …

My Mother

by Alexandria Carolan

Issue No. 280 ~ September, 2020

Do you know how much I look at bodies? I say. What? My mother says. We are at the kitchen table again, sitting across from one another the same as every night, drinking black tea she squeezes lemon into. We build a puzzle we’ve been …

Arcade Fire and the Beckettian Morbidity of Waiting

reviewed by Hannah Seidlitz

Issue No. 280 ~ September, 2020