Posts by Benjamin Bond West

November 27, 2024 | Fiction

The Rose of No Man’s Land

Benjamin Bond West

“...symbols of the divine show up in our world initially at the trash stratum. Or so I told myself.” – VALIS

“There’s a rose that grows on no man’s land, and it’s wonderful to see” – The Rose of No

November 26, 2024 | Nonfiction

notes from a recovering anhedonic

Rosalind Margulies

i keep love around like a shirt i hope i’ll fit into again someday

November 18, 2024 | Book Review

Midwest Suffering And Brainrot: A Review Of John Doe's 'Autumn In The Pain House'

Danielle Chelosky

Is John Doe a writer, or just a content machine?

November 17, 2024 | fucked up modern love essays

Paper Doll

Hailey Danielle

I ignored it when he admitted he had cheated on all of his girlfriends, and I ignored it when he became quickly angry over something small. I ignored the red flags

November 16, 2024 | Interview

LIVING ROOM CRAFT TALKS & DISCOVERY: A CONVERSATION WITH ELLEN BASS

Audrey Zheng

I am always talking about the quality of paying attention and the quality of being willing to go into the unknown, being willing to not know. 

November 13, 2024 | Poetry

Three poems on our precious context

The Neighbourhood Coward

Destroy something for my sake.

November 12, 2024 | Fiction

Schadenfreude

Andrew Worthington

Okay, you know how I like to go to the bathroom. We’ve talked about it at sessions over and over again.

November 8, 2024 | Poetry

Two Poems

Zachary Bond

On the back of his badge, he had a barcode with which he could change almost anything.

November 7, 2024 | Interview

Literature, Politics, & Audacity: Emailing With Matthew Davis

Elizabeth Handgun

My book is really about loneliness and alienation (like all my favorite books), but politics comes up in it because everyone is obsessed with politics now.

November 7, 2024 | Nonfiction

Sadness

David Luntz

and partly because she went to Yale and married the class president and blasts the socials with pics of their exotic vacations and announcements of their children’s accomplishments

November 5, 2024 | Nonfiction

Excerpt From 'Year One'

Marina Raydun

This is what I was waiting for. I all but cry, but I don’t.

November 4, 2024 | Fiction

How Ian Curtis Died

Divya Mehra

He says that’s how all rock stars die.

October 30, 2024 | Interview

Negroni & Whiskey: Toasting to a Year of Forbidden Flowers by Spleen

Joe Nasta, Carmen Cornue, and Donna Morton

"Mostly I think Spleen is about celebrating our friendship. It's a love that needs to be emphasized more widely rather than romantic love. Spleen is also a fantasy escape that gives us agency in ways we don't have in reality."

October 27, 2024 | fucked up modern love essays

A Modern Education

Sandra Jensen

I should have asked John why he was so unhappy. I should have done more than write that stupid note that was all about me and nothing about him.

October 23, 2024 | Poetry

Mademoiselle, 1966

Donna Morton

she keeps her secrets as easily as she takes off her white
gloves

October 17, 2024 | Interview

A Book of Potential Prayers: A Conversation with Katie Ebbitt

Katie Ebbitt and Nadia Prupis

The “death of the mother” is trying to do two things: the first is a nod to family abolition and the death of the mother within a capitalistic context. And the second is explicitly thinking through “mothers” dying during childbirth or dying because they are unable to receive care for abortion.

October 7, 2024 | Fiction

Midway

Adam Woodhead

When you get out of Bellvue, they just discharge you and won’t even tell you where you are,

October 2, 2024 | Fiction

I Remember Jenny Stax

Scott Laudati

But the merch guy was always your ticket in.

September 27, 2024 | Fiction

crossing the line

Sophie Madeline Dess

It’s not necessarily loneliness that I feel but rather a burgeoning propensity toward violence.

September 26, 2024 | Poetry

JULIA

Bernard Cohen

Time makes pills of us all