Issue

INTRO: The best way to enjoy a summer in New York City is to leave as often as possible. The second best way is drinking at KGB.

In Ross Barkan’s “Tad,” our protagonist wanders the United States, trying to escape himself, drawn along by the receding tide of the American century. Jesse Salvo’s pathetic David hopes to transfer to the Indian state of Goa so he can be closer to the casually cruel boss he has fallen in love with. And both Sophie Madeline Dess and Madeline McFarland take us on a trip to Madrid.

Fiction

Headliners:

Thoughts on Masking by Ruth Vinz

Three Poems by Ace Boggess

Atmospheric Perspective by Richard Helmling

Fiction:

Belly by Andi Grene

Little Dalmatia by Madeline Cash

Blight by Jeb Burt

NON-FICTION

Radical Lives in Contemporary Europe: Ghédalia Tazartès and Jim Haynes - by James Graham

The Wall Makers—I Muratori - by Annie Rachele Lanzillotto

REVIEW

KGB Homecoming Feast - by Randi Dickson

INTERVIEW

INTRO: A re-launch featuring current and former curators; intended to stoke inspiration from the past and exhibit commitment to the future of the literary community that's developed within the walls at 85 East 4th Street. It will be organized by genre then chronological order of each contributor’s timeline in programming.

A note from Buku Sarkar.

In a new poem by Elizabeth Acevedo, a voice from the record player summons memories and unresolved feelings about the speaker’s father. Introduced by Margarita Engle.

An Aztec emperor’s chambers and the dreary quarters of a worker made ancient by his windowless office: two poems and two universes by Marshall Mallicoat.

At the outset of B.H. James’s “Dale,” we’re in a religious cult whose god is the original Karate Kid film. By the end, we’re in a memoir of marriage counseling, writing, and narrative structure.

With work by Elaine Equi, Katie Degentesh, Youssef Rakha, K. Eltinaé, Paula Bernett, Leah Umansky, Ace Boggess, Lynne Sachs, Olena Jennings, and Alex Dimitrov.

- Ben Shields

Four Poems by Elaine Equi

Three Poems by Katie Degentesh

Three Poems by Youssef Rakha (translated by Robin Moger)

Writing about music is not, as the overused quote of undetermined origin goes, like “dancing about architecture.” It is, however, like writing about a different kind of language. This language exists parallel to, but just outside of, whatever other language(s) you speak, and can shape your identity just as much if you let it. In Issue 08 five writers explore different ways in which music and the things we build around it can inform and transform us.

 Table of Contents

In the introduction to Issue 07, Lisa Howorth ponders the Eleventh Commandment: thou shalt honor thy commitments.

Blake Butler’s deadpan “Bloodworld” pairs a narrator’s private perversities with his dreary day to day agenda.