And so begins my third year at the helm of Connotation Press! Thrilled to share nine new stories from five writers, ranging from prose poetry to short story, from curious to mercurial. I’ll let the writers tell it how it is:
Meg Pokrass: “ He tasted like a bologna sandwich. And it was not his breath. It felt like a taste that lived deep inside his body. She imagined he was still grieving. His young wife had died. This kind of sadness could turn a man's mouth into some kind of pickled meat.” – from ‘Cured’
Peg Alford Pursell: “ The pathways of her brain cells remember his words. Recall his expressions: a raised eyebrow, how his lips turned down when he smiled. His gestures: arms raised, hands spread as if to allow sunlight to pool in the palms.” – from ‘Schematics’
Dominic Mishler: “ I often fantasize about being irresponsible. About using the balance on my TAP card to take the train the wrong direction or to take a different bus. To just ride somewhere, until my balance or the public transportation system runs out. To not call in to work, either of them. To not answer my phone, not to my parents or my sister or actors from the show or the receptionist from the office or even Bram some days. To let someone else do all of it for once.” – from ‘The Whole Damn World Was Upside Down’
Jennifer Wortman: “ The new brain, with its voluptuous clumps of pink pearly meat, could have graced the cover of a magazine. We consulted the manual and removed my brain and installed the new one. I sprang from the couch, made my son a snack, then set appropriate boundaries for his screen time.” – from ‘I Want a New Brain’
Mark Ernest Pothier: “ Jeanette shook atop the ladder. It’s these fumes, she thought, but really, it was her: she couldn’t stop staring, too-close, into the black gap where the sheetrock wouldn’t meet the ceiling, where her wet spackling sagged down the wall. Paint couldn’t cover that. And even if it could, the Lemon Chiffon — the color she had chosen — looked pissy now, so much paler than in the store.” – from ‘Windfalls’