Vintage Fringe

The Oldest Guilt I Know

1. John Mully and I were sitting in the ER, Johnny holding my undershirt to his bleeding eye, me tapping my foot to the rhythm of the heart monitor attached to a bum lying in the hall. We were waiting for… more »

Longer Poetry

Zombie Thanksgiving

"Cult fan or critic, / O you who scramble into the beating copter, / consider Hot Pants Zombie, who once was tender-hearted too" more »

Fiction

Now Pronounce You

He starts carefully lighting matches while Zoe sleeps, one by one, cautiously fingering the burnt orange of the wick, absorbing sulfuric bliss, blistering his fingers’ tips. Every match is to him ever more erotic. Every additional flame snuffing... more »

Features

Deema Shehabi: Poet in Exile

Poet Deema Shehabi talks about writing as a Palestinian exile, and about inspiration as a muse that can be slain, the many moons in her writing, and blending strangeness with familiarity. more »

(de)ClassifiedLiterature

My Life Minus You

I have become a turned chair, a chair that sits pretty in the corner, a piece of furniture, ignored. I am somebody’s ghost, haunting preferred to a holding, I am no longer tactile, invisible. I am a headless flower, dried out in a scum filled... more »

Nonfiction

Epitaphs

here lies a man who every time he took a walk after dark in his neighborhood always and without fail asked himself why don’t you go for a walk every single night of your life and what’s keeping you from doing this one simple lovely thing more »

Poetry

“Mean” and two more poems

":it means the muck-filled ditch / you’re stuck in (as in nasty, brutish). . . ." more »

Fiction

Fresh Bread

“I love you, Frankie,” Jade says. I tell her I love her back. Neither of us believes it but it sure feels good to pretend we do. more »

(de)ClassifiedLiterature

Two Monologues of Mrs. O'Reilly

Do you know what it is to “flee”? Perhaps not, since all of your ilk are transfixed by screens and it’s doubtless difficult to animate a first-class flee, though I suppose some brainy little git is even now adjusting his quadrants and trying.... more »

Vintage Fringe

Vintage Fringe: Killing McGinty Safely

William Donoghue goes inside the mind of a hardened pedophile in this vintage short story from Fringe's first year. more »

Features

Review: The Unsung Masters Series, Pleiades Press

Brian Nicolet looks at Dunstan Thompson and Tamura Ryuichi, two masters left to collect dust in the basement of the 20th century until The Unsung Masters Series came along. more »

Nonfiction

Dick Move

I dreamt that it was morning and you said, as if it was no big thing, “Hey, kid, why don’t you take the penis today? I’ve got a lot to do, so I won’t even really notice it’s gone, and it might be fun for you.” “This is what I love... more »

Poetry

Variation on a Legend

“'Our most illustrious gardens, cathedrals, waterfalls, stone angels and so forth,' said the cabbie, leading us through the dark streets of the Tenderloin. . . ." more »

Featured Artwork

The Soft Hurrah