Fruit Cutting Factory by Chuckie Smith
There are bugs in the watermelon. They’re supposed to be bugless but they always have the little white maggot bugs and sometimes, like today, they have the black scarab weevil bugs even though they’re supposed to be bugless. I never know if I should remove the bugs or not. Nobody else seems to mind them but it bothers me to label containers “bugless watermelon” when they clearly contain watermelon that contain bugs. We’re not supposed to deviate from the label’s ingredient list. But if I took the time to meticulously pull each bug out, the others would look at me
THE BOARD GAME (33 CONSECUTIVE BLOG ENTRIES FROM GOODSUNFUN.WORDPRESS.COM) by Tyler Plofker
July 9, 2025 Today I started a wonderful new project! Im making a board game! The board is made of dirt. The dirt is 300 yards by 300 yards and is outside. there is one piece (so far) and it is a little bird. The little bird is dead. (I did not kill the little bird)!!! July 11, 2025 I was trying to think of rules. I was thinking of rules for the game for how many spaces to move. I thought maybe the player will throw their bird (dead) into a dirt patch (maybe) and depending on which
‘HIT REPEAT UNTIL I HATE MUSIC’: A SPLIT LIP ANTHOLOGY GROUP INTERVIEW
Founded a decade ago as a competition between sad songs known as March Sadness, the tradition of pitting tracks against each other has persisted year on year, mutating in theme, but forever guided by deep music appreciation. Enthusiasts make their argument for a particular song in passionate essays, all in the spirit of friendly combat. Hit Repeat Until I Hate Music: The March Xness Anthology (Spilt/Lip Press, 2026) brings together a selection of essays to showcase the vibes of this enduring contest. With that in mind, I put the following question to a selection of the anthology’s contributors: When was
DESSINS D’ENFANTS by Tom Snarsky
Chauncey skipped five grades. When he took his seat in English 9 with Mrs. Sotomayor he looked like a mushroom in an arboretum. He was very quiet, only answering when called on directly and sheepish in groupwork, but he paid attention every second. At the end of one class he overheard an older girl say smoke in a low voice. Another day he saw an older boy put his hand down his pants, which choreography not even the boy noticed. Chauncey could feel that he was developing an excess of attention. He would notice things that had no causal effect
RECOMMENDS: DREAM MACHINES by Emmalea Russo
Dreams. Dreams. Dreams. Nightmares. Reveries. How do they power us? Take hold? What do they tell us, in their own wicked and unwieldy ways? Lately, they’ve been on my mind, as I’m teaching a yearlong dream study workshop. We’ve been delving deep into dreams from literature, film, and psychoanalytic cases. I often teach long and trippy workshops, but this might be my favorite yet. I chose dreams this year, in part, because in the days/daze of digital-everything and quick AI answers, the dream remains impenetrable. It is remnant, belonging to the world of high weirdness and ungraspable grossness and subtlety.
AN INTERVIEW WITH LEE UPTON by Alice M
Alice M: As I read The Withers I was struck by its genre. Even before the narrative mentioned Rebecca, I thought, ‘This is Lady’s Companion Gothic.’ I tumble thoughts in the back of my head as I read books, and at first I defined ‘Lady’s Companion Gothic’ to myself as a perversion of what used to be quite a common practice. But that’s not exactly right, is it? The practice itself seems like a perversion, making it an inherently gothic idea. Even in cases where the employer’s intent is totally benign, the role of lady’s companion is a perversion of
by Mike Topp
$25 | Perfect bound | 72 pages
Paperback | Die-cut matte cover | 7×7″
Mike Topp’s poems defy categorization. That’s why they are beloved by seamstresses, pathologists, blackmailers and art collectors.
–Sparrow
