Rivet 16 I am firewood being cut in the rain. —Simon Shieh It is always interesting to see the synchronicity in what rises to the top of our slush piles. We choose the work, but themes seem to be chosen for us. Issue 16 holds fascinating cross-form conversations. Beth Weeks’ “The Ashtray” talks to Simon Shieh’s…
Landslide Colin Bennett I have to work on my second novel today. It’s been a month or two, at least, since I picked it up. The first novel, a semi-autobiographical number about growing up in the Milwaukee suburbs, goes over well enough. But it’s not paying any bills. Still, being published makes me something of…
On Fullness Kari Treese I was reading about dark matter in Chandra’s Cosmos, by Wallace Tucker. I discovered the volume on a bookshelf in the Seattle Public Library. Chandra is a telescope. He is the most powerful X-ray telescope to ever plumb the depths of the universe. Here is what we know. Dark matter cannot…
Mom Speaks on What Sold at Auction Christina Holzhauser Old Ringer Washing Machine When I was in high school, I made alotta my clothes because I took Home-Ec, so I made stuff. Far as I know, they was hand me downs. I really don’t know where we got our clothes; we just had em. Mom…
Dying Is an Art Rachel Watts In Nike Sulway’s Dying in the First Person, protagonist Samuel meditates on the grammar of death. “There are words,” he says, “they are simple and plain enough, but the grammar of dying is difficult.” Is death “what has occurred, what occurs, what will occur, what is always occurring?” I…
