JEN CURRIN A Bat Unveiled In the museum of land mines,my acquaintance fans her wings.Outside the sparrows catch fire.A tree falls to its knees.I become the sudden murderer,unable to recognize the radishesof my hands. The dictionary shudders. Again I cannot bealone. What is left of beautyI sop up with a napkin, believingit a limited supply. My only reading materialgives in to the blaze. And now I burn the legsof the chair, lest they touchthe ground.
Against Entropy — ED PIEN Portfolio There is something instinctual about visiting the well of inspiration. Thirst is a need, and as a need, it cries out to be satiated. Who amongst us can resist the invisible call of our base drives? Pretend or distract, need still eventually finds a way to be served. Need brings out the animal, puts the human in his place. When animal logic takes over, every gesture moves towards potential
MICHAEL AIRD For Seamus stem entrancemeshed to the cold hollowwhere your words vicareda clock heatawhile, saturated forward like I tinkered victim mechanicsthe resemblance of kept recordsbricks through glass paneimprints soft tissue so much knotted truthhoisted as black flagsabove the antechamber, antiravelour impulse bundle exhaledwithout bloodshed silence hardens over unlooked forthe proof drive stood hinge to our previous alsoits graft welcome waitsto wave us in For Seamusappeared in CAROUSEL 19 (2006) — buy it here
KIM MOODIE Untitled Untitled appeared in CAROUSEL 19 (2006) — buy it here
ROBIN PATTERSON The Woods Behind my Father’s House I have been lost in these woods before.I have seen this tree, scarred and twisted,and not recognized it.My feet have paced this unfamiliar pathtripping over roots that were never there. The spaces between the trees are dark and forbidding.The ferns at my feet fill the unfamiliar forest floorand grow as high as my waist,hiding a whole other world under their fronds.I keep my hands close to my
PETER KALYNIUK Sneaky Snake + Excrucio Sneaky Snake + Excrucioappeared in CAROUSEL 19 (2006) — buy it here
EMILY SCHULTZ Level 2: Frogger (excerpt from Joyland) Illustration by NATE POWELL PLAYER 1 After Joyland closed, the youth of South Wakefield had nothing to do but concoct ways to kill each other. Tammy sent home long ago, J.P. and Chris sprawled on the curb opposite the arcade, leaning back on their hands, drinking grape pop. Over the course of the night, the misplaced patch of boys grew in the stretch of cement in front
ANNE BALDO Like Money Everyone Will Use You & It Won’t Even Matter Stuck on the tongue,sour,like the pillyou cannot swallow your wordsare meaningless asfragmented hieroglyphicsyou talk in the calligraphyof valentines — beautiful but wasted. So don’t apologizefor your absenceas you walk awaydon’t say remembering people is so hard. Reduce usto a mere glitch of the heart. I will wait for youbut in the arms of other men. Like Money Everyone Will Use You …appeared
CLAUDIO PARENTELA Untitled (2005) Untitledappeared in CAROUSEL 18 (2005) — buy it here
RENÉE HARTLEIB Cat and Mouse Brenda imagined awful things. Chronically predisposed to what a friend called “catastrophizing,” she often awoke in the middle of the night with her heart racing, sure that she had heard a noise, sure that someone had broken into the house to rape and kill her. She was suspicious of wrong numbers. She checked for people following her. She startled easily. Brenda was, however, shocked the day she came home from
LIBBY HAGUE Bete + Fox Bete + Foxappeared in CAROUSEL 18 (2005) — buy it here
BILL BISSETT ther was a strangr cum 2 town that longpurpul nite all th kiyots gone 2 sleepevreewun was krashd yu cudint see a thingth fog was sew cum in th smothring blankit th knarlee perls inth sky promising whatyu cud nevr get heer sum say ther was abarn door creek in th aweful moon lite sumherd a roostr crow way b4 dawn ther was astrangr cum 2
DEVENDRA BANHART Untitled Untitledappeared in CAROUSEL 18 (2005) — buy it here
GLENNA FOERSTER Deer (2004) Deer appeared in CAROUSEL 17 (2005) — buy it here
ALLISON CHOW Some Three Hours in the Evening of August Sixteenth When I Am Nineteen One of my grandfathers looks like a Chinese Dustin Hoffman. He has gotten more handsome with age. When we go out to restaurantson SaturdaysI open doors for himbecause he is decades olderthan I ambut morebecause my reverencefor him cannot be containedsilentlyor only within me. Really it is my honourto open doors for him. Some Three Hours in the Evening…appeared in
GUSTAVE MORIN What Can a Dog Do? What Can a Dog Do?appeared in CAROUSEL 17 (2005) — buy it here
J.R. MYERS The Last Snowman It was a battle again; Ray pushing and demanding, never satisfied because he didn’t know what he wanted; Ethel pining to be left alone, wanting nothing more than to gaze at old familiar things and daydream. “It’s no use your moping around,” Ray scowled when his wife refused to come outside with him. “And it’s no use your storming around like a bull in a china
DUNJA LUKIC December 1992 I. It was in the shadows of a dark first winterwhen the stars were frozen in the night domeand even with our spinningwe couldn’t shake them from the skyheld our hungry mouths openwaiting for those falling universes to explode on our tongues expectant hoping our bellies would be swollen with stars. II. With wide seven year old eyes that same winter the sky was colorless it was snowing I saw stars
DAN WELLS Spare Change There he was, once again. Sitting on his bench, clothed in a knatty white dress shirt, collar curling like a dead leaf, dress pants cinched so tight they ballooned. He had a build for begging, emaciated limbs striking right angles, threatening to poke new holes in his clothing. He smiled at Paul, wished him a good morning. Paul scowled, locked the door behind him. Beggars were never good for business.
JEANNIE THIB Dissections Plate III + IV Dissections Plate III + IV appeared in CAROUSEL 16 (2004) — buy it here