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"Sisters-in-Law" by Valerie Vogrin (short story from The Summerset Review, Fall 2009)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Poetry and short fiction
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"Local Attraction" by Billeh Nickerson (poem from his collection McPoems, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009)
"The Golden Age" by Piotr Gwiazda (poem from Linebreak, November 10, 2009)
"Her Untold Story" by Jean Thompson (short story from her collection Do Not Deny Me, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009)
From pp. 280-281:
On her way home Lynn detoured to drive past Jay's new house. She guessed that if she kept doing this, there would eventually be some kind of restraining order. Jay and Margot had purchased a woodsy, faux chalet in a desirable district. . . . She rolled slowly past, noting the dim light in the no doubt spacious kitchen, and the illuminated upstairs window where Jay massaged his pregnant bride's swollen feet. Or consulted with her over the hipster version of What to Name the Baby. (Elijah? Paola?) Or any of the other things he'd never done with her. . . .
She turned a corner and veered around the block to make a second pass. Stupid and degrading behavior. How long did she intend to keep it up? The child would be born, learn to walk, head off for school, develop questionable friendships. The saplings in the yard would grow to mighty shade trees. The neighbors would wave at her as she made her rounds. Jay would be balding and fiercely deaf. She would have long ago forgotten the different layers of their life together: love, married struggle, boredom, acrimony, but still her curses would gather round him like crows on a wire.
Lynn changed directions and headed home. What could you tell from the outside of a house anyway? Wouldn't her own look just as peaceful and welcoming, no matter how forlorn the life inside it was?
"Her Untold Story" is sort of a continuation of Jean Thompson's story "Wilderness," which was near the beginning of this collection. I read that one when it came out in One Story.
"Local Attraction" by Billeh Nickerson (poem from his collection McPoems, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009)
"The Golden Age" by Piotr Gwiazda (poem from Linebreak, November 10, 2009)
"Her Untold Story" by Jean Thompson (short story from her collection Do Not Deny Me, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009)
From pp. 280-281:
On her way home Lynn detoured to drive past Jay's new house. She guessed that if she kept doing this, there would eventually be some kind of restraining order. Jay and Margot had purchased a woodsy, faux chalet in a desirable district. . . . She rolled slowly past, noting the dim light in the no doubt spacious kitchen, and the illuminated upstairs window where Jay massaged his pregnant bride's swollen feet. Or consulted with her over the hipster version of What to Name the Baby. (Elijah? Paola?) Or any of the other things he'd never done with her. . . .
She turned a corner and veered around the block to make a second pass. Stupid and degrading behavior. How long did she intend to keep it up? The child would be born, learn to walk, head off for school, develop questionable friendships. The saplings in the yard would grow to mighty shade trees. The neighbors would wave at her as she made her rounds. Jay would be balding and fiercely deaf. She would have long ago forgotten the different layers of their life together: love, married struggle, boredom, acrimony, but still her curses would gather round him like crows on a wire.
Lynn changed directions and headed home. What could you tell from the outside of a house anyway? Wouldn't her own look just as peaceful and welcoming, no matter how forlorn the life inside it was?
"Her Untold Story" is sort of a continuation of Jean Thompson's story "Wilderness," which was near the beginning of this collection. I read that one when it came out in One Story.
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