Issue 35 (Fall 2024)
In Hanif Abdurraqib’s interview from issue 34, he talked about writing that feels new, about how exciting it is to write something that feels like the first time. That got us thinking about how exciting it is to read something that feels like a first, how exciting it is to learn an author’s obsessions, their loves and their losses, their ideas that carry that special energy and intensity of discovery. It is an intimate thing to share something new with a perfect stranger and the contributors to this issue offered us all kinds of intimacy, while also exploring and extending the boundaries of form, lyricism and storytelling. Shared firsts have a way of letting us know a person better, and their vulnerability has a way of letting us know ourselves more wholly. We hope that in sharing these firsts with you, dear reader, you might find something you didn’t know before.
– Travis Cohen, Editor-in-Chief
Firstborn of Kepler-452B
by Jefferson Thomas Firstborn of Kepler-452B Tahlia gave birth in the pilot’s chair, with a blanket for a smock, and the botanist for a midwife. Her skin was…
Fire Escape
by Toni Artuso Fire Escape A siren blares like a guilty conscience. It must be a false alarm. But the wailing continues. Above it, you hear lodgers, disturbed,…
Forks
by Scott Nadelson Forks There were two sets in the drawer. One had long tines, a curved back attached to a smooth neck, a subtle etched floral pattern…
Shadows On the Wall
by Alec Kissoondyal Shadows On the Wall “I’m never drinking again,” Sara says, her head in the toilet. Her voice echoes off the inside of the bowl. “Never,…
Leaving Home
by Richard Moriarty Leaving Home It’s early August in eastern Kansas, bright and quiet on the morning Charlie leaves home. Told no one he’s heading for college. Right…
The Couple at the End of the World
by Mellissa Sojourner The Couple at the End of the World When they tell the story of their initial encounter to some newly acquired friends, they spend at…
it’s almost midnight and i’m thinking about god
by Izze Goldberg it’s almost midnight and i’m thinking about god it’s almost midnight and i’m thinkingabout god with my crooked kneeskneeling bruised raw numbly askingfor forgiveness.my dad…
Removing the Watermark
by Jessica Hincapié Removing The Watermark At the beginning of every booksomeone always telling youthat they have taken liberties with plot. List of wrong names, puzzled numbershanded to…
If the act of remembering changes the memory, how can you be certain
by Daniel Brennan If the act of remembering changes the memory, how can you be certain you loved him so much? an audience member asksthe Poet. A pause…
Buzzard
by Jaycee Billington Buzzard The language of buzzards is a slow cursive:lazy, looping, skating cumulo nimbus vowelsand tilted Ts, a round glide that mimics the curveof bald heads. It’s not messy, this…
Every Sex Party is Home to a Prophet
by Daniel Brennan Every Sex Party is Home to a Prophet We peel back the black lacquereddoor like the scab from a blister. Taste the spoiled heat escaping, that…
Inheritance
by Lindsay Stewart Inheritance * A mountain lion sounds like a woman screaming * He taught us how to use a gunwhen we were ten, the same yearwe…
State of Emergency
by Onna Solomon State of Emergency The dream woman chases herempty car down the hillShe is me and I amwatching herfrom my own car When I reach her…
Little Quaint House
by Grant Chemidlin Little Quaint House outside, but stepping in, the walls were adorned with naked men. Stretched, voluptuous, leather-bound & gagged, tasteful, but for my still-closeted eyes—the silver glint…
Stunt Girl
by Lindsay Stewart Stunt girl1 I practiced insanity in the mirror to satisfythe hundreds, said my own name aloud untilit lost all meaning. Nellie, Nell-ie, Nellie.How will you…
BearTrail
by Robert Eric Shoemaker BearTrail for Stephanie Michele As the great bear criesstarshine, starshinedip one foot in the lake to test itwhile I take off my shirt, pants, shoes.Turn…
Journal of Training and Competition
by Asya Graf Journal of Training and Competition 1. 50 Years Since Great October I’m on the floor of my parents’ living room, among piles of Soviet black…
Hope Is the Thing with Seeds
by Whitney Schmidt Hope Is the Thing with Seeds Under my heart a vast apple tree grows wild—sprawling crook-limbed, teeming with green, tough and stout from trunk to…
A Case for More Stuff
by Caroline Mahala A Case for More Stuff I watched my friend, and one of six co-signers for this little unit, try to angle his surfboard over the…
Arms Full
by Angela Townsend Arms Full To the naked eye, my mother did not appear to be a bodybuilder. Fellow patrons of Thrall Library saw a dancer in Reeboks…
The Selkie Agrees to an Interview
by Catherine Broadwall The Selkie Agrees to an Interview When you came onto land in woman form, just what were you hoping to do? The moon was as…
Mending with Milkweed
by Amanda Russell Mending with Milkweed (a documentary-style poem in 10 parts) 1.A mermaid dolldropped in an empty driveway— sightless eyes turned to the cloudless sky. When will…
Borikén, 1955
by Eneida Alcalde Borikén, 1955 En la finca at the center of the world, we meet you in your opening chapters curly haired, round-eyed Boricua stretching awake before…
Ursa Major
by Robert Eric Shoemaker Poet/Artist Robert Eric Shoemaker (he/him) is a poet, translator, and interdisciplinary artist. He is the author of three books: Ca’Venezia (Partial Press, 2021), an artist’s book of…
Drunk on Mystery: a review of Jeffrey Skinner’s “Sober Ghost”
by Josh English Drunk on Mystery: a review of Jeffrey Skinner’s Sober Ghost Jeffrey Skinner is among the country’s most vital living poets; his forty-some years of publishing…
Jonathan Escoffery on “If I Survive You,” Evolving Obsessions, and How Art Mirrors Reality
by Travis Cohen Jonathan Escoffery is an author whose work defies both definition and expectation. His debut book, If I Survive You (MCD Books), which was longlisted for…
Julie Marie Wade on “The Mary Years,” Empathy, Narrative Hybridity, and ‘Looking Out to Look In’
by Travis Cohen and Michael Cuervo Julie Marie Wade is an author who could serve as a dictionary entry for multivalence. She is a poet, essayist, memoirist, hybridist…
Editing Staff for Issue 35:
Faculty Advisor: Denise Duhamel
Editor-in-Chief: Travis Cohen
Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Cuervo
Fiction Editor: Natalia Martinez
Poetry Editor: Ellie Gomero
Creative Nonfiction Editor: Griffin Cornwell
Hybrid Editor: Kamila Izquierdo
Readers: Brittney Acosta, Bryane Alfonso, Brittany Crosse, Cayla Garman, Zachary Granat, Ericka Hodge, Charlotte Kaplan, Carlos Martin, Michael Rojas, Yvonne Sadinsky, Sophia Tirado, Kevin Triana, Matthew Young
Cover Artist Shae Meyer was born in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder CO. After moving to New York City he began working in studios producing large scale paintings for artists there, while developing his own processes. He now resides in Troy, NY where he paints, and grows plants.
Gulf Stream Magazine 