25 Fragments

She doesn’t want me around the customers, so she assigns me the task of writing down every ISBN number in the store. While recording numbers, I listen to the formulaic pop music blasting through the store’s speakers and think about my ex-boyfriend—any of them—and how much I miss him. If I think about it, I miss everyone I’ve ever met. It takes me days, weeks, months—what feels like forever—to write all the numbers down. In fact, I’m positive there’s an alternate universe where I’m still only halfway done, watching the FedEx guy roll in more carts stacked with boxes for the impending fall semester while Taylor Swift plays throughout the store. There are so many alternate universes and all of them are terrifying.

Matthew HawkinsTSRMarch 24, 2021SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW

The Smell of Every Kiss

This isn’t the story I wanted to tell, but every time I smell burning, I can’t help but picture the wigs my mother found under my bed when I was seventeen; the smell of hair ablaze on the stove; how I can’t help but smell that burning everywhere; how I can’t help but cook on a stove every day, every day, no matter how hard I try.

Medusa GomezScott TSR SullivanJanuary 13, 2021SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW

My Merrill

MyMerrill offers up that other bond
between you—that same same desire, to put
it modestly. You are split open by
the women, grabbing, moving synchronized.

Alicia MountainTSRDecember 16, 2020SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW

The Party Goers

I was back up against the wall, trying to look like I belonged, when Julian Gould walked in. I’d heard stories of his own parties, late night and lawless, where he made people feel, with his disregard for tomorrow, like the hard work they were doing was not only serious and worthwhile but that it had desserts. We’d met once before—our introduction so brief I doubted he’d remember. I watched him notice me.

Halimah MarcusTSRDecember 9, 2020SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW

STRANGE SOUVENIRS

I see my whole life as preparation for the way I paint. Even though my roots in the rural American Midwest are a major influence of my work, I believe my paintings can can speak to people from a variety of places and experiences.

Sarah WilliamsTSRNovember 23, 2020SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW

Holy

Things had been disorienting for me in America. There were no rules. Nobody knew who I was. I was confused, myself. The streets were crowded and noisy, a dance floor under dim lights. Barefoot men ran around at dusk screaming.

I heard that Allen Ginsberg lived in the East Village too. I looked for a solitary figure in bars, his dark hair wild. I’d approach him, I would be bold and impressive. He was the one who could explain things to me.

Rosanna StaffaScott TSR SullivanNovember 5, 2020SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW

Pink Boy

A feigned gentleness and then
here is the knife. The only color worth dying for
is pink. My gender is
a knife that I use to pare my tongue.
Two tongues. One for each man.

Robin GowTSROctober 23, 2020SUMMER/FALL 2021 PREVIEW