We apologize that we have been delayed in working on the January issue, but it will be up sometime in January. We cannot guarantee response times, however.
Life As An [insert label here]
Monday, December 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
"Sonnet" October 2013 Issue Released!
I am very pleased to announce that our third quarterly issue is
officially released!
There are two ways to view the content for this issue:
All of the stories and poems have been published as individual entries on this site. To view all of them, either scroll down through our feed, follow the links on the bottom of this page, or click on the "October 2013" tag.
If you prefer, the magazine has also been uploaded to Google Drive available to view and download. Simply follow this link, or click the tab at the top of the screen that reads "October 2013." The downloadable magazine also includes a short introduction by myself.
There may still be some formatting glitches to be worked out over the next couple days. If you spot a problem, please send an email to LifeAsAn@gmail.com including a link to the page with a problem, if appropriate. Be sure to put "LAA" in the subject line somewhere so our spam filters don't catch you.
If you would like to view the magazine on an e-reader, you can download it through Google Drive entirely for free. I do not have an e-reader myself, so I'm not sure exactly how to accomplish this. If you have any questions of that nature, please direct them to the manufacturer of your e-reader.
Below is a listing of all the pieces featured in this issue
Poetry:
Love Sonnet by Sara Callor
Anti-Love Sonnet by Sara Callor
"They that have power to hurt and will do none" by Erik Noonan
Smiling Starlet (Marilyn) by James K. Blaylock
Wild Blazing Fires (Forgotten Galaxies) by James K. Blaylock
Shudder to Apocalypse by Brett Stout
The Gypsy Padlock Doctrine by Brett Stout
Liebestod by Robert Wexelblatt
I Am Not a Brick by A.J. Huffman
In the Scent of Dreams by A.J. Huffman
Prose:
Letter to Mark by Carol Smallwood
Weighting Game by Terry Barr
An Autumn Twice Fell by Jarrett Fontaine
The History of the World by Kim Farleigh
Penitent by Kelly Kraus
There are two ways to view the content for this issue:
All of the stories and poems have been published as individual entries on this site. To view all of them, either scroll down through our feed, follow the links on the bottom of this page, or click on the "October 2013" tag.
If you prefer, the magazine has also been uploaded to Google Drive available to view and download. Simply follow this link, or click the tab at the top of the screen that reads "October 2013." The downloadable magazine also includes a short introduction by myself.
There may still be some formatting glitches to be worked out over the next couple days. If you spot a problem, please send an email to LifeAsAn@gmail.com including a link to the page with a problem, if appropriate. Be sure to put "LAA" in the subject line somewhere so our spam filters don't catch you.
If you would like to view the magazine on an e-reader, you can download it through Google Drive entirely for free. I do not have an e-reader myself, so I'm not sure exactly how to accomplish this. If you have any questions of that nature, please direct them to the manufacturer of your e-reader.
Below is a listing of all the pieces featured in this issue
Poetry:
Love Sonnet by Sara Callor
Anti-Love Sonnet by Sara Callor
"They that have power to hurt and will do none" by Erik Noonan
Smiling Starlet (Marilyn) by James K. Blaylock
Wild Blazing Fires (Forgotten Galaxies) by James K. Blaylock
Shudder to Apocalypse by Brett Stout
The Gypsy Padlock Doctrine by Brett Stout
Liebestod by Robert Wexelblatt
I Am Not a Brick by A.J. Huffman
In the Scent of Dreams by A.J. Huffman
Prose:
Letter to Mark by Carol Smallwood
Weighting Game by Terry Barr
An Autumn Twice Fell by Jarrett Fontaine
The History of the World by Kim Farleigh
Penitent by Kelly Kraus
Labels:
October 2013,
site information
Penitent
by Kelly Kraus
The desert had nearly consumed him
last night. He’d fled almost three days ago. With him he’d only
brought a half jug of water and a stale loaf of bread. Both were gone
within a day. His mouth was arid and he was becoming increasingly
weary. If he didn’t get food and water soon, he could die out here.
And no one would know. Or care.
Regardless
of his predicament, returning to the city was necessary. Hunger pangs
cramped his stomach. As a group of hares darted across his path, he
pondered chasing them. They’d make a modest meal. He lacked the
strength for a pursuit of the animals. Famished, he trudged on.
The
trek back to the city was punishing. Mountainous terrain provided
refuge from potential prying eyes. While there were many valleys that
made walking easier, the cliffs were steeper than the valleys were
shallow. Sharp declines scattered the area. All the ravines he came
upon were dry from the scorching heat. Water was a scarcity in this
area.
Labels:
Kelly Kraus,
October 2013,
Prose
The History of the World
by Kim Farleigh
Suburb A’s inhabitants
considered themselves superior to suburb B’s, the A’s mockingly
imitating the B’s accents, although their accents were almost
identical.
Expletives not employed
in suburb A, except to mock the B’s, were used by the B’s,
demonstrating the latter’s “unquestionable brutality.” Waggish
A’s used these terms to belittle the B’s; better, however, to
avoid these expressions whose non-employment indicated an exquisite
sensibility beyond the reach of most B’s.
The A’s constantly
needed to prove their superiority so that when litter “polluted”
suburb A’s clean streets, Suburb A’s leading newspaper, The
Erudite Browser,
claimed: “Dark-Age Suburb B louts committed litter heresy against
decency”, although how they knew this wasn’t explained, research
superfluous when poetic conclusions cause collective indignation, the
mellifluous cadences of articulate sniping singing with the
enrapturing vibrancy of truth.
Labels:
Kim Farleigh,
October 2013,
Prose
An Autumn Twice Fell
by Jarrett Fontaine
Rain pattered against my
window. Through the stormy darkness I could hear my daughter
screaming and crying out for me again.
Daddy, I miss you.
A crack of thunder
quickly followed. The midnight air was electric as I rose out of bed,
being careful not to wake up my wife.
Help me Dad!
I stumbled blindly
through the hallway, down the creaky steps. She screamed again.
No matter how many times
I visited her grave and begged her to stop, I could always hear her
voice.
Labels:
Jarrett Fontaine,
October 2013,
Prose
Weighting Game
by Terry Barr
“You’ve
lost too much weight! You look…GAUNT!”
The
anxiety in my mother’s voice shakes my confidence. It’s amazing
the power she exerts over me. How can one remark reduce me to that
emotionally stunted boy I thought I had shed years ago?
I
walk away from her, retreating to my bedroom bath. I shut the door
and breathe deeply. Then I face myself in the mirror, seeking the
new me, the slimmer me. The me that I like. But what I see instead
is a wasted face with hollow cheeks.
Is
there more wrong with me than I know? Despite the disease that I
have, that she knows I have, is it my weight that my mother is most
focused on? I turn away from the mirror, unable to resolve the
discrepancy of our perceived images.
Labels:
October 2013,
Prose,
Terry Barr
Letter to Mark
by Carol Smallwood
Excerpt
from Lily's
Odyssey
(print novel 2010) published with permission by All Things That
Matter Press. Its first chapter was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer
Award in Best New Writing.
http://www.amazon.com/Lilys-Odyssey-Carol-Smallwood/dp/0984098453
Dear Mark,
I thought today was Friday but M*A*S*H
wasn’t on at 6 so it must be Saturday.
I got a call from State asking me if I
could come for an interview! Can’t believe it! I took the earliest
interview time slot and made reservation for flying out Monday. They
are paying for my ticket. They have tuition remission there.
I shouldn’t tell you but I went
through a yellow light in a haze of thinking what to pack and got a
$50 ticket. Jenny’s taking me to the airport so she can have the
car. Return 8:03 a.m. on the 6th—have
layovers both ways unfortunately in Chicago’s O’Hare.
Congratulations on being elected to
the Student Government Association! That’s really good news and
will look good on your resumes. I was very glad to hear you think
your government teacher’s “one cool dude.” Are Ollie North
haircuts popular on campus?
I liked your comment about Charlie
having a car in the demolition derby “sounded like small town
America—fixing something up and paying to smash it.”
Must dye Jenny’s slakes as she must
wear them for work but will have to put bleach in the washer to get
all the color out first. Sorry to hear you had pink shorts after I
did the washing. Jenny’s red shirt must have run. She wanted to see
my wedding ring and is wearing it for some reason.
I painted the utility room wall while
listening for the mailperson. Maize watched me working with plants
and jumped high when I surprised her coming around the corner of the
house. It was very humid and it was hard sleeping last night with all
the thunder. Maize hide last night and then woke me up by sniffing my
nose. She keeps walking in and out or pushing pens off the table like
she knows something’s up.
Not that surprised that you’re
learning more about Nicolet City than when you were here. I’m glad
the police came quickly when you had to call about the patient
freaking out.
I’m looking forward to having you
come home for Fay’s wedding and will try my new sourdough bread
recipe out when you’re home.
Jenny I know misses you. I noticed
that she really followed you around when you were home last time. She
helped me with my book after prying her out of bed before 10 (after
chasing Charlie home 1:30 last night). She does good work and am
paying her. She went to see Betsy and probably Charlie will come over
tonight. Trying to get another Wisconsin reference book going but is
hard because it would mean limited sales so may end up doing a social
resources one.
I saw a great big Allied Moving van
pull up across the way and it was so long it had a hard time turning
the corner. I so wanted it to be mine. The best thing in the mail
today was there weren’t any rejects on article or job inquiries.
Be sure and do the best you can
because your grades will follow you around no matter where you go.
Love, Mom
Labels:
Carol Smallwood,
October 2013,
Prose
In the Scent of Dreams
by A.J. Huffman
I
dance on tireless toes, spinning,
a
ballerina of wind and ghostly touch.
I
am air, light
and
[on] point(e).
I
am princess of the pink chasm
of
inebriated thought. I know nothing
and
everything. I see what I feel, what
I
inhale. I exhale doubt. I watch it
float
to the ceiling dissolve into fog
and
shadows. I blink at them with my third
eye,
fan them away with invisible butterfly wings.
Labels:
A.J. Huffman,
October 2013,
Poetry
I Am Not a Brick
by A.J. Huffman
house,
but mortar definitely runs
through
my veins, much needed
reinforcement
against invisible wolves
who
blow me down to foundation.
They
are confused by my solid
determination
to rebuild
myself
in a slightly harder shape.
Resigned
to this repetition,
I
peer through shadowed
fingers
of fate, waiting to see
if
this time I am enough,
if
this time I will hold.
Labels:
A.J. Huffman,
October 2013,
Poetry
Liebestod
by Robert Wexelblatt
The
still bedroom was dimmed by blue drapes.
Though
they were outside time it mattered
it
should be a November afternoon
when
exertion brought its own reward.
He
was an expiring salmon expending the
last
erg of energy in the sweet water
of
his birth; wave on wave buoyed him
then
dropped until he plumbed the
matrix
of all metaphor, perishing
with
limbs of lead into the dusky void—
only
to renew the compulsive cycle
of
recurrence heralded by Nietzsche,
framed
by Klimt, explicated by Freud.
Was
it the love of death,
the
death of love, or merely one
soul
lost in the release of spirit,
the
love that feels like death?
Memory
shuffles delight up with regret.
When
did the Lovedeath turn to the death of
love,
the death of love to the love of death?
Was
it in the middle of a sentence
or
in the silence between breath and breath?
Labels:
October 2013,
Poetry,
Robert Wexelblatt
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