By God Henry, That Woman Is So Obsequious
creative non-fiction
by Jenny Robbins
I peeked through wicker blinds half expecting to see last night’s Tinder date hiding near my car. It had been a night of debauchery, carnal, blood and tequila. I should have left after I came the third time.
I limped around the bedroom in search of my phone. I was still getting acquainted with my four wall arrangement, the latest in a slew of room rentals. . . .
Will-o’-the-wisp
creative non-fiction
by Rob Kaniuk
/ˌwiləT͟Həˈwisp/
noun
unpunctuated: will-o-the-wisp noun: will-o'-the-wisp plural noun: will-o'-the-wisps
a phosphorescent light seen hovering or floating at night over marshy ground, thought to result from the combustion of natural gases; ignis fatuus.
metaphorically refers to a hope or goal that leads one on but is impossible to reach, or something one finds sinister and confounding. . . .
The Zombie Comes to the ‘Burbs: The Abject and Monstrous-Feminine in Netflix’s “Santa Clarita Diet”
non-fiction
by Brian Fanelli
As Robin Wood, Julia Kristeva, Barbara Creed, and other horror film scholars have pointed out, the mother figure in horror is traditionally associated with the abject and the monstrous-feminine, be it the Queen in James Cameron’s Aliens or frazzled mom Amelia (Essie Davis) in Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook. Netflix’s “Santa Clarita Diet,” however, presents an alternative to typical female monstrosity. . . .
Shopping barbie
non-fiction
by Virginia Watts
I always stroll down the Barbie Aisle in any store that has one, because Barbie is a good memory for me. I had a lot of fun with Skipper and the Malibu period, Twiggy my favorite Christmas surprise. The whole experience entranced me. The clothes, the shoes, the accessories, the fact that everything actually worked; snaps snapped, zippers zippered, and buttons buttoned. I spent years dressing and undressing my dolls, making up stories, giving them life. . . .
abandonment
flash fiction
by Pat Hananoe-Dosch
In January the blue in the sky disappears in our part of New Jersey. Even on the rare occasion when it isn't cloudy, our world is filled with just sand, a few bare trees, and a lot of empty houses waiting for the summer/weekend people to come back. In fall and winter I nickname this place The Abandonment. After Memorial Day, tourists and summer residents return, and the whole island is rescued from ruin again. . . .
A Selection of poetry
Poetry
A selection of poetry by the SVJ’s finest writers: Joseph Cilluffo, R. A. Allen, Katherine Hahn Falk, John Timpane, Ray Greenblatt, and DS Maolalai.
Iron Maiden – Ellen Durkan’s Drawings in Steel
art
Photo by Joe Hoddinott
by David P. Kozinski
The word chaos holds a special place in the vocabulary of artist/designer/blacksmith Ellen Durkan, as in “embrace the chaos,” or “finding your way in the chaos.” Trim and dark-haired, her speech is clipped, decisive and salty. The prowess of design, craft and attention to detail required in creating her “forged fashions” evinces a clarity of vision and steadiness of hand that are anything but chaotic. She refers to some of her designs as “drawing in steel,” a phrase that captures her fluency in the two contrasting media. . . .