From the Blog

More Beers for a Sober October

October 3, 2024 - By Marsha Bryant

I think I can finally stand me
Without a glass or a stein.
– Barton Sutter, “Sober Song”

Well, you know that a Sober October
For this beer reviewer’s a Noper.
Yet again—just for you—
I’ve imbibed more such brews.
Let me be your NA beer decoder.

You can still do your work with these beers,
Fill your glasses and raise them with cheers.
There are flavors galore,
So you might as well pour
One—or three! Here are some to revere.

1.

The Original Clausthaler’s glow
Is so golden. Tastes beery, not faux.
With some sweetness, it feels near
The crispness of Pilsner....

Hey J.D., Thought You Might Like This!

September 27, 2024 - By Jim Hicks

The Honorable James David Vance, United States Senate
288 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

September 19, 2024

Dear Senator Vance,

I have to admit it. When I first came across that sound-bite moment from your recent interview with Dana Bash, I thought it was a hoot. “If I have to create stories [. . .], then that’s what I’m going to do!” Really? I teach fiction, I publish fiction, and, on occasion, I even write it—though when I do, I never claim to be doing otherwise. That would be lying. And that would be wrong.

Sorry. I’m being unfair. That whopper of a hot dog you served...

2024 Autumnal Reading Mix Inspired by Artist Mike Ousley

September 26, 2024 - By staff

Curated playlist of music that inspired our 2024 Fall artist, Mike Ousley, as he created the artwork featured within our issue:

"Wildcat & Snake"
Brushy Fork of St. John’s Creek By Daniel Sherrill

"Night Train"
Old Train by the Tony Rice Unit

"Company Town"
Sally Ann by Dirk Powell

"Cults Are Fun"
Little Things by Adrian Berenguer

"Come With Me"
Hainted Ground by...

10 Questions for Simone Muench & Jackie White

September 23, 2024 - By Franchesca Viaud

The last spring shall come, the last summer, too,
so no to politicians peddling impotence, no

to preachers stitching our lips into eclipse, we want
the misfits, the women unafraid of descent,
—from "Self-Portrait Lined By Sándor Csoóri," Volume 65, Issue 2 (Summer 2024)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
Jackie & Simone: For our new collection, The Under Hum, one of the first pieces we wrote was “Disclosure,” which developed into a sonnet, and one of our goals at the outset was to extend the feminist project of interrogating traditional (male) forms. Pointedly, then, we “turn” the argument of the poem at the end of the first quatrain with the...

June Jordan on Israel and Lebanon: A Response to Adrienne Rich

September 19, 2024 - By June Jordan

I was born a Black woman
and now
I am become a Palestinian
against the relentless laughter of evil
there is less and less living room
and where are my loved ones?

       —June Jordan, Moving Towards Home

Editor’s note: June Jordan wrote this poem in 1982, after Sabra and Shatila. This week, as the world marked the forty-second anniversary of Sabra and Shatila, Israel carried out...