Written and Read

Dan Foley reads three original poems.

One original poem: "Gravity's Mistake"

"Alarm," previously unpublished.

"They both feel lucky to have someone who cares enough about them to make sure that they are drinking enough water."

"Walking to the Number 61," previously unpublished.

"Ian always frames his emails to colleagues in the passive voice. It’s a habit he picked up from his father, a librarian, who believed that if you did your job well, people wouldn’t notice, and if you did your job very well, people wouldn’t even know that your job exists."

One original poem: "Mastery"

Singer-songwriter DAIN describes his songwriting process and how he wrote "Tinman."

DAIN is a Seattle based singer-songwriter / indie pop artist with an emphasis on storytelling in his lyrics. His music can be found here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PdbAN4rPvek632pFfpVKJ?si=XpTJm_m2Tk6Kp0FlaBLzBA

Bandcamp: https://dainweisner.bandcamp.com/album/sun-feels-good

"A Tribe of Genies," previously unpublished.

“Packets of cigarettes and boxes of sweets were passed round, and the bedouin women sang and danced, the night and the desert resounding with the echoes of a great feast, as though we were some tribe of genies.”

- Tayeb Salih 

"Locked Inside," previously unpublished.

"He couldn’t live with not knowing. It was far more painful to him than the violation of his home by these two yahoos, the loneliness he felt daily, the heavy shame that he carried around his house from the latch to the thermostat to the kitchen window."

"The Promise," previously unpublished.

"He wonders whether change can be intentionally sought, or rather, like a sudden crisis of faith, it can only be experienced, it can only come as a reaction. If this is the case, which he comes to suspect and indeed worry that it is, he is forced to wonder what has to happen to him in order for him to change."

Discussion with Dale Hall and Charlie Hope-D'Anieri about the best books we read in 2024.

"The Sirens of Santa Cruz," previously unpublished.

"The eucalyptus trees were dark crimson. The smell was intoxicating. I wish I could have shot them but the flash would have ruined the color and without it, the picture would be far too dark."

Alexandra Duprey reads two original poems.

Two original poems: "At the Poetry Reading" & "See the Stars"

"The Sound with No Name," previously unpublished.

"Just before we walk through the door to the bar, I hear a small boy scream, 'Look, they’re just walking.'"

"The Harmonica," previously unpublished.

"I had never before thought of music as something with divisible parts. It always just seemed like the air that humans needed to breathe – the air that they breathed through me to make me speak. "

"Penelope," originally published in CommuterLit in October of 2022.

"Beautiful he was in the braided lamplight over the drinks and the smoke and the cards, she remembers, beautiful."

Charlie Hope-D'Anieri reads his piece, "The Soup."

"The magnificent Beauceron has not received his due!"

An original poem.

"Ember Baby," originally published in JMWW in June of 2024.

“His father always told him that family was the one thing for which you sacrificed everything else. But he worried, with each passing day, if the love he felt for Madeline would be one of the things that he had to sacrifice in the name of family.”

"Theseus," originally published in Visual Verse Vol. 6 - Chapter 12 in October of 2019.

"She’ll tell you about her perspective, her layers, how she composes herself. She’ll tell you that she is both a subjective object and the process that creates that object."

"A Companion Piece" (original and unpublished)

"The city, he says, alienates the individual, makes him feel as though he will be lost to history unless someone records both the great and the terrible things he does."

London-based writer Dale Hall reads his piece, "Robinson's Wake," originally published in The Wells Street Journal Issue 12 in the Winter of 2019.

"Because of his purpose, Calderon likes to see parallels. Rather than seeing the text scraped from the parchment and replaced by other events, as Keiller does, he likes to see the text gone over with a ballpoint pen again and again until the page is rife with thick, black figures and occasional tears."

Three original poems: "Darth Vader Socks," "Optimism," & "1+1=1"

"Protest," originally published in The Wells Street Journal Issue 13:  Disruption in the City in 2020.

“We were against Islamophobia, homophobia, xenophobia. We were against it all. Especially the hair.”

"Porch Light" originally published in Ab Terra 2020 story collection from Brain Mill Press in January of 2021.

“I thought I already knew all the things I know but evidently, I don’t.”

"The Ear is a Vital Organ" originally published in The Future’s So Bright story collection from Water Dragon Publishing in November of 2022.

“Keep your eyes moving and your ears open, Sadie once told me, and the world will reveal all its secrets to you.”

Three poems:

"Sunny's Weekend"
"Crazy"
"Sestina of the Long Road"

"Rat or Pigeon," originally published in The Wells Street Journal Issue 12:  Mapping the City in December of 2019.

“He’s furious. The full and crippling indignity of his hour-to-hour existence has finally dawned on him.”

"The Midland Railroad Hotel," originally published in The Purple Breakfast Review in June of 2019.

"Whatever they were, they were together. They were alive and they were together."

"The Mirror," originally published in The Wells Street Journal Issue 11: The Liminal Edition in April of 2019.

“My wife tells me that she can never see herself in my work so I say I will make her a mirror.”

Final episode. Back in Bullseye, Mr. H's family adjusts to his absence. The mastermind behind this heist is revealed. 

Heist at the Bank of the Black Ox is a serialized Western-inspired crime story, told through the voices of twelve characters. 

Mr. H travels North with Murphy and Pinkerton in search of the precious stamps. Meanwhile, Reginald Schwarz - the sheriff of Bullseye - has trouble getting to sleep. 

Heist at the Bank of the Black Ox is a serialized Western-inspired crime story, told through the voices of twelve characters. 

Mr. H prepares to leave Bullseye and we learn more about his wife and daughters. 

Heist at the Bank of the Black Ox is a serialized Western-inspired crime story, told through the voices of twelve characters. 

In the first installment of Heist at the Bank of the Black Ox, a mysterious Mr. Murphy arrives at the Bank of the Black Ox with a proposition for the owner, Mr. H. 

Heist at the Bank of the Black Ox is a serialized Western-inspired crime story, told through the voices of twelve characters.