TERSE. Journal

Staring Into the Abyss by T.S. McNeil

History is littered with tragic artists. Sensitive souls pouring their heart out onto the canvas with little if any reward, other than the satisfaction of creating beauty where there was none. Names like Van Gough, who never sold one of his own paintings, despite working for his art dealer brother Theo for a time, ringing…
Sacrilegious Sanctimony – Andres Serrano by Jason Collins

Andres Serrano, who is a born and raised New Yorker, is best known for his controversial artworks and photos. Serrano’s artwork is known to upset people as he often uses images of corpses, unlikely and distributing materials, and has even used feces in the images. Serrano is best known for highly controversial images that contain…
An Interview with Konstantin Kulakov by Aubrey King

Konstantin and I first met in Boulder, Colorado during our MFA program at the Jack Kerouac School. Our friendship, however, blossomed during the pandemic, after Konstantin had moved back east and I stayed mountainside. We would have hours-long phone calls about our lives and current events, but Konstantin isn’t much interested in small talk—he dives…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 110 by Annie Walton Doyle

New Animal by Ella Baxter “‘I think you might be trying to get away from those things, because of your sadness, which is so uncomfortable that it’s almost unbearable—but I promise you, running away from that sadness is like trying to run from your own shadow.’” When New Animal was published, it was salaciously (and,…
Liebestrasse: A Review by T.S. McNeil

There is a notion, particularly among reactionary conservatives, that LGBTQ folk, though that is not the term the likes of Gavin McInnes use, have only existed since the 1960s. A blinkered opinion based on ignorance and queer as a three-dollar bill that utterly ignores landmark works of queer culture like The Boys In The Band,…
Drippy Sculptures – Dan Lam by Jason Collins

Dan Lam was born in a refugee camp in Morong, Philippines, as a result of her parents fleeing Vietnam back in 1986. Lam spent the first few months of her life there as her family was waiting to move to Houston, Texas by getting sponsorship from fellow family members. Lam grew up and spent several…
And Then The Gray Heaven: A Review by T.S. McNeil

In a culture of increasing representation, which can only be a good thing, one of the aspects of humanity rarely noticed are the truly odd. Not the those who are different because of how they vote or what they like to wear or listen to, but the organic oddballs, who are different in the most…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 102 by Annie Walton Doyle

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen At first, Amanda registers it as a dog or a bear, but it looks almost human, its contours twisting into an expression that is equal parts hunger and despair – a deep, almost prehistoric longing. The critique of books as “lightweight” or “women’s fiction” tends to be veiled…
Braving the Days – renunciation of blending, silver, copper, magnesium by Jordannah Elizabeth

The street here is narrow, modeled like the eastern marketplaces, “Chinatown in Philadelphia.” I felt as comfortable as possible; the rare walks I did take, while under the wire of a novel deadline. I could not adhere to the growing number of discontented beings who had some form of lament regarding my choices, and nature;…
Meeting Across the Crevasse by Jo Nageswaran Kinnard

I have always been comforted by the space between my fellow human-beings and me, while appreciating what we share in the common ground of our humanity. The idea of losing my individuality in something amorphous is off-putting. However, for a lot of people, “different” is difficult, terrifying, or unacceptable. How do we understand and bridge…