One of my earliest memories (and one verified by mother and various relatives) is of me standing on a table surrounded by smiling people as I sang the old country …
Breathing Machine: a memoir stopped here (Carol Major)
In December 1999 the earth spun toward a great shadow marking the end of a millennium and those who relied on mechanical timekeeping began to stack tinned goods into cupboards, …
Paper Riddles (Lindsey Danis)
(Edited by Callie Doyle-Scott) Freshman year of high school, someone hands me a note and a piece of candy. I eat the candy but puzzle over the note. Really it’s …
OUTSIDERS, INSIDE OUT (Amanda Hickey)
(Edited by Kathryn Hummel) Your own eyes are king. —Estonian Proverb Sydney, 1991 I looked for her first in the garden where she would often be working—planting, weeding or …
Famous for Asparagus (Jennifer Compton)
I had heard a great deal about the Koo Wee Rup pub, what with one thing and another, so, while I was staying with them, the daughter and her bf …
Project Bali (Alice Allan)
(edited by Jillian Schedneck) Smiles, smiles—how the Balinese can project. – John Olsen, journal entry, September 1973. Mum hadn’t left Australia in 45 years. It took us six months to …
‘From What I’ve Read So Far Of Yours, It Sounds Like Every Man In Macedonia Hit On You.’
Don’t get me started about the Macedonian Poetry Festival. Put it this way. If it’s a sex fest that you want, and you look like you might be a woman, …
A flash flood of hailstones (Tom Doig)
I woke up with an icepick headache. It felt like an alcoholic horse had pissed in my mouth. I lay in my sleeping bag trying not to retch, struggling to …
The Expatriate (Laura Jean McKay)
I hail a motodop. He’s like, ‘Four dollars.’ And I say, ‘No, I live here, it’s two and a half.’ And he asks, ‘There and back?’ I’m …
Benefits of Anticipatory Grief (Janet Frishberg)
I’ve forgotten my voice waiting for her to die. I came to say goodbye but I don’t believe it’s time yet and neither does she. Six days ago in San …