Posts by Kristen Iskandrian

August 11, 2021 | Interview

the novel as a kind of organism: an interview with Tao Lin

Kristen Iskandrian

To try to allay his doubt, or figure out of it’s real, [Li] mentally consults his in-progress novel, as if it were a friend. He intuits, in an intuition described by the line you quoted, that his doubt is wrong, is habitual and self-sabotalogical.

August 11, 2021 | Nonfiction

A Fun Game for the Whole Family

Eric Dovigi

If a ghost is the impression you leave after you, then the divot you leave in your old bed is a ghost. 

August 9, 2021 | Nonfiction

Playing Her Song

Andrew Stancek

Gratitude is not the response she expected. She smiled through thin lips, missing the hoped-for fight.

August 6, 2021 | Fiction

Slung Out and Wayward

David Nutt

Gunderson could hear the vehicle’s noisy carping from eight blocks away, like a herd of wild trashcans rolling down the street.

August 1, 2021 | fucked up modern love essays

The Ball Dropped, Honey!

Darina Sikmashvili

Oh, absolutely a mistake to have given the wealthy Protein Bar Daddy my number.

July 27, 2021 | Poetry

Three Poems

Andy Tran

Playin’_The_Keys

i love to dance, sing, write, chill, read
and play the keys, but sometimes, life
doesn’t allow me to hang out
and do my thing, which means
i have to divide my time into many

July 22, 2021 | Fiction

For I Have Sinned

Sean Dolan

My son is fifteen when he asks the first question I am unable to answer.

July 20, 2021 | Nonfiction

Everyone Eventually Leaves LA

Heidi Seaborn

When the Santa Anas whipped into town, everyone became a little crazier. They invited the wildfires as if to burn the witches amongst us. 

July 12, 2021 | Fiction

Product Placement

Daniel Fraser

My last suicide attempt was in a park called Jesus Green. I said ‘last’ because I gave up, not because it worked. Writing plays tricks with life and death so you need to make things clear.

July 12, 2021 | Poetry

I’m Writing from the Other Side of the Universe to Ask You How the Weather Is

Jenny KangDi Li

I’m Writing from the Other Side of the Universe to Ask You How the Weather Is

This is a soft rain, my father says, his forehead a creased encyclopedia page. It is mao mao yu in Chinese, syllables

July 11, 2021 | fucked up modern love essays

I Planned to Ask You to Prom

Cassidy Bull

Seventeen days since you spoke your last words to me. They repeat themselves in my mind, I never want to forget them.

July 9, 2021 | Poetry

Two Poems

Curtis D'Costa

Song for 2 Phones

     What is that?
The line outside
the Maria Bamford standup
we went to last year.
          Send it to me.
     What is that?
A sugar maple on the hill
shedding Gatorade

July 9, 2021 | Nonfiction

Reimagining with Mexican Candy

Moisés R. Delgado

I am not a pinch, a spoonful, a half a cup of light rivering down into the stomach where, I should know, the heart truly resides.

July 7, 2021 | Poetry

Two Poems

Daniel Duffy

Traffic

It’s 60 degrees in January so the birds have decided to just stick it out because who can afford the time-share anyway and the flowers bloom completely off-key like the conductor is drunk

July 1, 2021 | Fiction

For Your Consideration

Adrián Pérez

Consideration of Deferred Action for Chilhood Arrivals

This is when your humanity ends, when a pen hits this paper.

June 29, 2021 | Poetry

Still Life

Tawanda Mulalu

...I'm part of this thing where fish learned to walk...

June 25, 2021 | Poetry

Two Poems

Kennedi Killips

"lucky" and "trophy"

June 25, 2021 | Nonfiction

When You Have a Traumatic Brain Injury, You Should Really ‘See Stars’

Susan Hatters Friedman

Tom Selleck, in his best reverse mortgage voice, volunteers to call your parents and break the news that their daughter almost died. Your mom is happy to hear from him since she always liked Magnum P.I.

June 24, 2021 | Fiction

Waves of Fun

Dalton Monk

Big Bob sat beside me and watched women he classified as MILFs walk their kids to the pool with large, clear tubes.

June 23, 2021 | Nonfiction

Jayne St. Mansonfield

Adam Klein

 

She arrived at my apartment at 3 a.m. with a soft suitcase on her head, a handle positioned over one eye. I could see the netting in her matted blonde wig. Her broken eyeliner and stained lips