TERSE. Journal

365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 196 by Annie Walton Doyle

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate “As the image of myself becomes sharper in my brain and more precious, I feel less afraid that someone else will erase me by denying me love.” Written in the aftermath of her marriage’s breakdown and under the shadow of Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential win, Jenny Slate’s Little Weirds is…
“Glow in the Dark” by Anastasia Jill

Anastasia Jill (they/them) is a queer writer living in Central Florida. They have been nominated for Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and several other honors. Their work has been featured or is upcoming with Poets.org, Sundog Lit, Flash Fiction Online, Contemporary Verse 2, Broken Pencil, and more.
“Rhizomorphs” by Katherine Quevedo

Katherine Quevedo was born and raised near Portland, Oregon, where she works as an analyst and lives with her husband and two sons. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Rhysling Award, and her mini-chapbook The Inca Weaver’s Tales is forthcoming from Sword & Kettle Press in their New Cosmologies series. Find her…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 192 by Annie Walton Doyle

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor “As if a rotten swamp of a cunt justified all that effort, all that energy, the carnage that was to come, their lives devastated, everything gone for a second-rate fucking snatch: a grubby, slimy, murky hole.” The reading experience of Fernanda Melchor’s incel horror story, Paradais, is unlike any other –…
“zombie Bug Ars Poetica” by David Banach

I am the zombie wasp climbing the sharptongued blade as the sun casts criss-rossshadows in the tangled grass, and I risefinally into open light dazzled, warmedand blinded as my forehead opens thirdfourth, fifth eyes blooming and the cordycepsflower sprouts and spreads, spurting out spores carried off on warm air currents I know, says Emily, that…
From Private to Public – Tracy Emin by Jason Collins

The rebellious nature of this infamous artist, Tracy Emin, took the world by surprise with her controversial subject matter. Emin gained her controversial reputation with her artworks that explored her sexual history and her addictions. With artworks such as her “My Bed” and “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995,” it can easily be seen…
“Hilda Blessing” by Irene Cooper

The famous chef hovered and hissed, “Perfect couscous requires the singular touch of a woman’s hands,” and just like that, Hilda was, in her soul, done with fine dining. Still, her body worked the line on behalf of a dozen more ardent and arrogant entrepreneurs and old guards before she figured out how not to…
“The Glamour” by Catherine Zickgraf

The Glamour of Miami ends at the side streets— where rectangle houses sit like bricks and window bars keep out the bad guys. Out near our curb stands an ancient oak. A storm left it bent but not uprooted. It moved with the wind but didn’t break. Back in the back, beside…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 182 by Annie Walton Doyle

Milk Teeth by Jessica Andrews “I want to grow bigger than my shame, to have mass and identity, to leave marks and indentations, to prove my own existence.” Hunger is so prominent in Jessica Andrews’ Milk Teeth that it becomes bigger than just a theme and more of an all-pervasive, visceral feeling. It’s a hunger…
Family Abolition Communizing of Care: A Review by Renya

“Family abolition.” It’s a phrase that, for many people, likely conjures up images of forceful separations of family members, legal penalties for certain relationships, or other authoritarian measures designed to tear us from our loved ones. In Family Abolition: The Communizing of Care (Pluto Press, 2023), this isn’t what author M.E. O’Brien is desiring at…