Fiction by Jen Knox, Nicolette Wong, Jack Swenson, xTx, Danny Goodman, and Robert Wexelblatt.
Poetry by Meredith Weiers, Bill Yarrow, Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, Lucinda Beeman, Al Ortolani, Tony Brewer, Byron Matthews, Jennifer Wineke, Jessica Bell, Laura Grafham, David Tomaloff, Rachel Mangini, Barry Spacks, Brad P. Olson, John Tustin, Ally Malinenko, Sara Basrai, Jennifer Blair, Amanda Laughtland, Darryl Price, Andrea Spofford, Susan Keiser, Emily Severance, Heather Abner, Tina Barry, Howie Good, Randi Beck, and Heath Corlew.
Black and white photography by Karen de la Bald, Laurent Miaille, Stefan Randholm, Annie Atkins, Kirsten Thormann, Helene Fjell, Quervel Sébastien, Beatrice Belguiral, Marco Masciovecchio, Ana Moreno, Shlomi Kramer, Alessio Di Menna, Penny Hardie, and Netra Nei.
Also in this issue: Memoir by Maureen Eppstein, and Sheldon Lee Compton reviews Rusty Barnes’ book Redneck Poems.
As always, thanks very much to all who have contributed. It’s an honor to share your work in RR.
Norm never says what he sees out the window. We like to think he respects confidences.
He was supposed to be a garden gnome. Give pause to the squirrels, keep an eye on the impatiums. We found him at Wegman's. He looked hopeful and observant.
We put him in the cart with the lunchmeat and yogurt but he slid around and I took him out and carried him. His hat was poky. He didn't seem frightened. I turned him around so he could see things. When the cashier saw us coming she laughed.
She was a tall thin talkative girl. Mornings she milked cows for two hours before she came into work at Wegman's. The gnome liked her too.
What's your name? she said.
He looked like he hadn't thought about it.
Well, you'll figure it out, she said. You want to ride in a bag?
"The purpose of writing is to enhance mystery, not solve it."
-Tim O'Brien, 1991, from the Artful Dodge interviews archive. Read it here.First cashier: “Giovanni’s blowing up my phone.”
Second cashier: “Which one’s Giovanni?”
First cashier: “He’s like, why won’t you date me?”
Second cashier: “Wait– He’s the short one, right?”
First cashier: “Yeah he’s tiny. I said grow and we’ll talk.”
It’s been awhile since I’ve worked this small and tight, and with
For me, the process of stippling is about adding a little, taking a little away, adding more. When a mark or area becomes too dark, I lighten it with a kneaded eraser shaped to a fine point- Essentially, stippling in the negative. Not quick work, but continuing to build up and adjust marks as needed creates layered surfaces with texture and depth.
The chapel’s roof and walls were created the same way. For the foreground evergreens I used a softer 6B General Charcoal pencil, lightening with a kneaded eraser, softening and blending with a Q-Tip, darkening again, definining further. The foreground wall, bushes and ground cover were established with charcoal pencils, refined with graphite. To create the effect of the farther trees receding into bright mist, I used only graphite pencils to keep values in those areas lighter. The trees’ shapes and mist, the lawn and path were refined and smoothed with kneaded erasers, progressively harder graphite pencils, finishing with a Staedtler 6H.
I began the drawing’s remaining background by loading a cotton ball with powdered charcoal, scrubbing off most of it on scrap paper, then applying what was left very lightly, barely brushing the paper. It’s a technique that borrows something from drybrush, creates a kind of dry wash that's not as smooth as watercolor, but provides a good foundation for a somewhat similar effect. I avoided the finished elements, and developed adjacent areas- along the chapel’s roofline, and at bottom left- with the Staedtler 6H.
And yes, I did remember to use my magnifier this time.
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