The Midwest | JOYLAND

Passes

K.C. Wolfe -

The first week I was back in Syracuse, Pat met me at my parents’ house, where I would be living again, three months after...

Toof or Else

Weston Cutter -

A few days ago Toof started up again, eating only a bit of dog food at a time. He’d race in from the living...

Hack

ROSE McCANN -

-1- The Jesuits place a high value on the written word, so much so that they hire an outsider to run the literary magazine....

The Law of Strings

Steven Gillis -

Lange sits and watches Eva while she sleeps. On the floor, in the space between, is a book by Jerzy Kowlaski-Glikman, Towards Quantum...

Lie With Me

Elizabeth Warren -

I woke with a start but lay still, waiting for my quickened breathing to slow, the hairs on my arms to settle. Crisp new...

Marine Life

Okla Elliott -

1. When Jeanette was seven, her parents decided she should learn to swim—like other children. The doctors assured them of her safety and went...

Summer Fun

Paul LaTour -

Go ahead, try it, he said, passing me the shotgun. The long barrel felt cold in my hand. I don’t know about this, I said,...

Clean and Bright

Peter Anderson -

I have always enjoyed it here, at night, after the day's heat and dust have passed. I sit in shadow, beneath a young elm...

Work

Sammuel Bennett -

It's Monday and the commuter train is barreling through frigid Chicago suburban morning like a silver thermos, pounding diesel into miles and miles of...

Berkowitz

Joseph G. Peterson -

My father was fond of telling me I didn't have what it takes to get by in this world. Who knows, perhaps he’s right....