• “Reality’s Shelf-Life” by J.T. Hamilton

    She died with a virtual reality headset strapped to her face. Jaw agape, cheeks sunken, polygonal patterns of crystallized sweat stuck to the fabric of her clothes. Her body was splayed out on an undressed mattress. A ceiling fan wobbled above. It was hot. Real hot. Alabama mid-summer-sun-expected-to-implode-this-decade hot. Scattered around the mattress, small plastic…

  • “What the Hell is Hauntology?”: A Reading List for 2019’s Theme by M. Perle Tahat

    2019’s theme for TERSE. is hauntology: nostalgia for lost futures. As our columnist Jordannah Elizabeth bluntly asked, “what the hell is ‘hauntology’?” Hauntology, as we’d like to explore it, is a way to describe a phenomenon related to resonances of traumatic events; a coming to terms with “what’s been done” in the present based on…

  • “GROWING SWIRLING CLOUDS” By Thea Boodhoo

    “Mark died yesterday, Margery.” My tone was patient, sad but not distraught. The time for distraught was past, I thought. “Coral, don’t joke about those things. He was right here a few minutes ago.” I found a serious expression in my database and displayed it for her. “It’s not a joke, Margery. He left us…

  • “Science news: Octopuses came to Earth from space as frozen eggs millions of years ago” by Caroline Grand-Clement

    (after an article by Ciaran McGrath in Express) i am too colorful for their fragile eyes so i hide in empty vases, shapeshift into silent pride. they have called me too complicated on eight different occasions & eight times i have screamed back coward. afraid of what they cannot figure out they have broken my…

  • “Surface Tension” by Gary Hartley

    The oil has spilled and we know it is coming. It will not be contained. There will be no expertise right there where it happened and none when it arrives, because it is us here, just us, with no expertise. Beaches await dark blankets and dead feather beds. Over there, the robots are heading our…

  • “WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE GREAT FISH CAME GNAWING?” by Cavin Bryce

    The Earth existed then as one all consuming ocean spotted with a single island near the equator. It was a thin strip of sand only four feet in length at its widest point, but warm and soft so the native boys never complained. The sky was only ever perfectly covered in thick, morphing clouds. It…

  • Walmart World Heritage Site by Wes Bishop

    In the distant future, a Walmart in Cleveland, Ohio is a World Heritage Site. It is at an excavated and preserved location where people vacation and teachers march their students to see how their ancestors lived. A reenactor, blue vested and labeled “How Can I Help You?” greets the crowds like a jovial clown. They…

José Guadalupe Posada