Issue 32 (Spring 2023)
The Very Absence of Connection
by Shya Scanlon The Very Absence of Connection Glen couldn’t help thinking that if their roles were reversed, he’d be kicking Bob’s teeth in. Or at least failing at it. Bob wasn’t a big man but he looked strong, and besides he’d seen action in Vietnam. Not much you could do to a man who’d…
Alabama Queen
by McLeod Logue Alabama Queen The red earth was God’s way of knowing who was good enoughto be dirty. In the backyard, I play house underground, lettingmy fingernails make pockets in the earth. It feels goodto be cold down to the bone. It’s bible belt territory. Redas the fire ants. Red as the blood in…
Monsoon
by Sarath Reddy Monsoon My childhood dissolved like salt into watermonsoon blending sky and earth, fallingsteadily, drenching thatched roofs,quenching the parched leaves of guava trees.I stared into a deep well where cattle grazed,uncertain if there was water at the base,tossed a pebble. Years later stillhear the splashof water steamed for my morning bath,crackle of splintered…
Bollywood Shuffle
by Sarath Reddy Bollywood Shuffle A story of forbidden love and overbearing parentswho have forgotten the magic of sunsets, full moons, lightning.The lovestruck couple discovers the world is small, flatlike a disco dance floor, flashing colors all lit up.Stepping across borders of status and caste they frolicin the wispy fog of the inebriated Himalayas,then to…
Mythology
by Marissa Ahmadkhani Mythology Orpheus plays his lyre and, like Cerberus, I am tricked to sleep, left on the cold ground with a false sense of security. In dreams, I relive that night again and again: you in front of the window, warm candlelight bouncing off bare walls, the glasses of wine neither of us…
Dysthymia, or For Persephone
by Marissa Ahmadkhani Dysthymia, or For Persephone I buy plants on days when I waketo a numbness in my chest—as if the smallness of the budswill shoulder some of that dull weight before sending it into the soil.When Persephone was stolen by Hades,she was out picking flowers—stopping for a narcissus bloom, she reached out and…
Time Passes
by Marissa Ahmadkhani Time Passes and the cypress trees sway as gray cloudsrise to an overcast sky. I sip my coffeeas it steams into the morning mist,remembering the row of dark green treesnext to my childhood home,their feathered tips movingwith the wind—how I’d lay in the grass,eyes squinting defiance at the sunas my father trimmed…
Extreme bouts of Growing Pains my Father Tends to with Absorbine
by Jo Christian Extreme bouts of Growing Pains my Father Tends to with Absorbine Growing pains prodded my legs, restless as a horse’s,it’s skin shuddering under flies, always the urge to runrising. I inched closer to the bedside only waking to the thud of bone on wood.And this is how my father found me, crying…
Cartography
by Alan Ackmann Cartography “The science of mapmaking, in the end, is the science of separating what is known from what has yet to be discovered.” — Fromner’s Comprehensive Atlas, 1978 It’s eleven-thirty at night in mid-November. Arthur and his wife Deb are staring each other down in a rest stop lobby somewhere in…
Alexandra Chang on Tomb Sweeping, Autofiction, and the Dirty Word of ‘Ambition’
by Travis Cohen Alexandra Chang is the author of Days of Distraction (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2020) and was recently selected as a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree, chosen for the impact her debut and future works promise to have on the literary landscape. Her forthcoming collection of short stories, Tomb Sweeping, is set to be…
Hybridity in Indigenous Writing: An Interview with Poet Elgin Jumper
by Rosa Sophia Elgin Jumper is a Seminole poet and artist whose poetry collection, Nightfall, was published by the American Native Press Archives and Sequoyah Research Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His work was recently presented in a documentary from Seminole Media Productions entitled “Elgin Jumper’s Colorful Journey,” which premiered at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki…
CANDIED YAMS
Or How to Monster by Diamond Forde CANDIED YAMSOr How to Monster INGREDIENTS 4 sweet potatoes swollen with sun¾ cup of brown sugar (molasses clung)1 c of white sugarnutmeg (just a pinch) 2 cinnamon sticks½ lb butter, split into patsorange juice (just a splash)1 lemon, zested & masheda stove near-explosive with gas DIRECTIONS Swamp the…
CANDIED YAM CASSEROLE
Or How to Honor Thy Mother by Diamond Forde CANDIED YAM CASSEROLEOr How to Honor Thy Mother INGREDIENTS 4 sweet potatoes swollen with sun¾ cup of brown sugar (molasses clung)1 c of white sugar1 cinnamon dashnutmeg (just a splash) 1 stick butter, split into pats2 fresh eggs¼ c of buttermilkone greased dish DIRECTIONS Diamond Forde’s…
When you turn 52.
by Michelle Lizet Flores When you turn 52. You are now the age your mother never was. You’ve never seen an empty nest before–space and clutter. Who are youwhen no onedepends on you? Here are some instructions your mother couldn’t leave behind: Step out to the yardbarefoot. Dig your toesthrough the earth.Breathe her in. Pluck…
FAT GOSPEL
by Diamond Forde FAT GOSPEL Alice realized she was fat all at once: when her youngest’sinfant-grip mitted into her folds, noticed how her nursed childmolded into its mountainous mother, cuddling too comfortablein Alice’s pillowed arms— 2 at first, Alice felt fine with her fat—assumed her armshad adapted to lift a child’s heft so that the…
How to Make a Rainbow
by Molly Bashaw How to Make a Rainbow Begin to imagine that your life is fantastic, no matter what happens next. Light a candle and let it burn until it goes out by itself. Give away the clothes and the mobile. Take the changing table extension off the drawers. You are not replacing anything,…
The Donor
by Tom Houseman The Donor The girl’s name was Della. She sat across from them in a soft gray chair in the room the agency had set up for them, her black ballet flats pressed firmly into the carpet. She wore dark blue jeans and a maroon, three-quarter sleeve shirt. Her eyes were light…
The Great Raccoon War
by Terry Belew The Great Raccoon War Slipping beneath tin sheets of pole barns, devouring cattle feed and corn. Shoot them on sight. They only come at night. Set out poison. A mother and kit skid down trees, tiny thumbs thumbing noses. A dozen furred bodies in a shed one-night, poisoned tongues…
you are good
by a. adenike phillips you are good Found poem: It Does Not Matter If You Are Good, ELLE published online May 29, 20201 speak clearly and slowly, widen your eyesin situations or just the danger of everyday existenceavoid any air bubble or murky water—a trafficstop or anodyne situation: an apartment buildingwith a random white stranger…
Neon
by Calista Malone Neon With the neon pink light flashing OPENin the storefront window of the arcadecalling up kids like dogs for dinner.You see your eyes, almost as wide asoranges under the glow. You can hear the humof the hulking speakers around the plexi-glassedscreens. At the bottom of your bag, you findenough quarters that, you…
Abbreviated Button Slug Moth
by L Favicchia Abbreviated Button Slug Moth I learned young that some bodies can be killed,that there’s an important differencebetween slugs and caterpillars—the coldwet body of one curled in the Tootsie Roll leavesthat gathered beneath my mother’s bushesnext to the lamb’s ears she hated so much—too lamb, or not lamb enough. I was taught to…
Taco Bell is ≥ therapy
by Nicole Tallman One summer, I paid Taco Bell more than my therapist, and that is saying a lot. My therapist said to get up and do something when I couldn’t sleep. Ever live in a town so small that every sit-down restaurant closes at 10 p.m.? Ever get anxiety and go to Taco Bell…
Pay the poets!
by Nicole Tallman Pay the poets! Pay the poets! In real money, not just in flowers or free drinks or books! Give us rock star status! World tour all the poets (not just Rupi) in the fancy concert halls! Dress us up in ball gowns or tuxes and in VERSACE or Chanel! Some poets may not…
The moon is gay (AKA Say gay!)
by Nicole Tallman The moon is gay (AKA Say gay!) It’s June and the moon is looking even gayer tonight. She’s in Gemini—shining her super social waxing crescent moon face. I was born under a crescent moon. Yes, I was also born gay. That really isn’t debatable. There is no rainbow moon, but there should be.…
Peter Balakian on No Sign
by Madison Whatley Peter Balakian is the author of several collections of poetry, including Ozone Journal (2015), winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and Ziggurat (2010), which wrestles with the aftermath and reverberations of 9/11. Gulf Stream Managing Editor, Madison Whatley, met with him in Miami to discuss his latest book, No Sign (2022). Their conversation has been edited for…
Issue 32 Staff
Faculty Advisor
John Dufresne
Managing Editor
Madison Whatley
Assistant Managing Editor
Arnaldo Batista
Creative Nonfiction Editors
Ranijun Ruado and Trey Rhone
Poetry Editor
Rosa Sophia Godshall
Fiction Editor
Travis Cohen
Readers
Demir Sanal, Joseph Gomez,
Celeste Giglio,
Yvonne Sadinsky, Isaac Campos, and
Jo-Anne Carrenard
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Cover artist
Wowser Ng is a Chinese artist based in London, where he graduated with an MA from University of the Arts London. Brightly-colored digital paintings provide new possibilities for Asia queer depiction in abstract and figurative works. Ng challenges pop culture by appropriating fashion products to form visual narratives and uses stylized abstract images in his research.
Gulf Stream Magazine 