The Midwest | JOYLAND

Cousin Barnaby Is Dead

Clifford Garstang -

I’m in the middle of an argument with my mother—she thinks I should ask her friend’s daughter Denise Knickerbocker out on a date while...

Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

Tan G. Digger -

“So I was reading this article in the Times about how, apparently, there’s like way more people who want to write books nowadays than...

Hearing Test

Anna Prushinskaya -

You’ll never be quite what you used to be because you’re always getting older. Everyone is. This was her ex-husband’s mantra, but now, they...

The State of American Letters

Chris Leslie-Hynan -

When we arrived at the colony, they sat us on the lawn and told us, don't drink and drive on the major streets. We'll...

Blue Girl

Emma Törzs -

The inside of the freezer was very blue and the girl was very blue as well. Her eyelashes were silvered with frost and her...

Fording the Street

Colin Fleming -

Ever since I retired on the southern side of sixty years old, I have spent at least a couple hours a day at the...

Seven Names for Missing Cats

Martin Seay -

And what if we don’t look? — Erwin Schrödinger Señor El Gato It’s everywhere now: the lampposts, the telephone poles. In every corner lot, stapled to...

Ballpark Figure

Rebecca Entel -

My brother Dyl’s always keeping me on my toes by pretending he doesn’t love me anymore. “Foul ball?” are the first two words he barks...

The Narcissist’s Dilemma

Robert James Russell -

Six PM. Thursday night. Jack’s Café Bar. Usually called Jack’s. Sometimes The Jack. College crowd hasn’t come yet, which...

Craft

Nicole Schultz -

I’m parked kitty-corner from Lisa Scoccar’s one-story prefab, squinting into binoculars against the bald May sun, across her open yard of rutted dirt scattered...