artwork & writing curated by Stephanie Lane Gage
Brett
Suemnicht
Bethany Reece
—
Price Ousey
1
—
2
—
3
Zachary Swearingen — 4
CONTENTS
Nicholas Kinsella — 6 Logan
Ladd
Krister
Larson
— — —
7 8
Maeve
Jackson
Zach
Hill
Alec
Dolter
—
13
Saige
Rowe
—
14
Ashley
Coffey
—
—
10 12
15
Melissa Johnson — 16 Grace
Mitchell
—
17
Brett Suemnicht
1
June drinking thoughts
Bethany Price
the lights are what will pay for this wine later, i tell myself. science takes care of the bill for me. what does it cost to watch the frolicking ice cream cones beckon me from these flat screens in the bar. can you hold a stem without thinking of a dick i think you can i think you can. it's okay if you love the beautiful people who look like you only i dont blame you your confidence is drowning i see you’ve drowned it’s okay it’s a beautiful way to rebirth. no, we are not occupied by those ocean sounds. what i’m trying to tell you is that this is warm and difficult for me. that the sun and the smiling give me time enough to split myself infinite.
2
Reece Ousey
3
Zachary Swearingen —
4
5
brething
I know it's like a dumb old rhyme so it would probably sound funny if I told you just how often I seem to forget about breathing entirely and start swallowing big chunks of air, down my throat and nose holes like I just surfaced came up out of the water when really I was just sitting here thinking and drifting off into space and it scares me pretty well sometimes you know
Nicholas Kinsella
6
7
Logan Ladd
8
9
Krister Larson
Maeve
Jackson —
10
11
Take a Road Trip Zach Hill
I want to tell a story about the desert but I don’t know where to start. How about this: The desert. The desert is a beautiful sprawl that is full of real cacti, strippers, sand, rocks, signs, abandonment, importance, nothing, everything, Vegas, my fiancé, a van, rams, lizards, real Mexican food, chipotle, Seagram’s whiskey, beg bugs, urinary tract infections, hot tubs, time machines, treasure trails, creeps, mid grade marijuana, Zapatas Mexican and Italian Restaurant, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, nuclear bombs, flowers, old hikers who want you to take a picture of them, young hikers who want you to take shots with them, oases of thought and architecture, heat, cold, broken air-conditioning, long naps on the road, impromptu performances, two lovers, bones, taking shots on the Vegas strip, falling in love, falling in hate, dancing everywhere, post cards, convenience stores, killing scorpions to gain their power, running away, filming nothing for the sake of everything, gambling, cigarettes, overpriced Indian food, never ending buffets, banana chips, wasabi peas, ugliness, dummies in cop cars, surprise, inspiration, exasperation, a sketchbook, a lake, canyons, naturally formed amphitheaters, avocados, holding hands with ten other people and yelling into the horizon together until our lungs feel like deflated basketballs and our faces are as red as the sunset itself. I could keep going. Take a road trip; they always say. See the world; my father tells me. Last summer I went to the desert. I did not just see the world but I saw myself in relation to the world. When no one else is around accept the rattlers and the cacti you are basically looking into a mirror made of sand. I have never felt so small in my entire life, that’s okay though. It is kind of difficult to be human, we are so very little and the world is so gigantically huge and enormous. I guess all you can do is make something with the time that you have, it may not make a huge difference then again, you probably aren’t a huge person and I know that I am not either. It’s okay to want to do huge things. Maybe for now you/I/we/us/them/whoever should just take a road trip.
12
Alec Dolter
13
14
Saige Rowe
unexamined lyfe Ashley Coffey
The dragging has started too soon I bang my head on the wall repeatedly why me why me it’s 2pm and I haven’t left my bed. my aureolas must not be a shape that is requiring of love. unfortunately it is always me. a divinest sense tells me that everything is dead. a divinest card told me to be strong and appreciative of begins and ends. I’m sorry for not coming over — I was depressed and cold but now that i’ve been what feels like dead for like 14 hours I have come back an adolescent idea of transcendence. Enlightened? But why do I still feel a slight irritation towards young girls posting pictures of Bob Dylan on the internet. I’m just bored and judgmental. Vapidity is never becoming and stings when I think about myself from the past. Don’t judge her I tell myself, She doesn’t understand. I bet she feels liberated now repeating my words as though they were her own. oh how it stings. but wait she is my friend now. Call me if you need to talk! I’m a great listener I’m always here if you need someone to talk to. or maybe you should see a professional. I’m always curious to know what “here” looks like.
15
16
Melissa Johnson
Spiral Valve
The skin of our lips drew apart like summer thighs & ice cream in me melted 26 feet. The bottom of my feet are imprinted with gravel, calloused skin chapped with your stubble, I stubbed my toe on a dry pebble. & I bled out into the ocean. Proud finned Mother circles her child as the meat of my thighs pull apart like our mouths; wet with your taste dry in sea’s drought Dairy floats in the marine, saccharine now saline. Proud Mother fends off hunger as I lend myself to survival digested in the spiral valve of a growing cetacean child.
Grace
Mitchell 17
January 2014 MKE, WI
Ashley Coffey: missspiritual.tumblr.com Alec Dolter: alecdolter.tumblr.com Stephanie Lane Gage: stephanielanegage.com Zach Hill: zach-hill.com Maeve Jackson: cargocollective.com/maevejackson Melissa Johnson: melissajohnsonart.tumblr.com Nicholas Kinsella: nicholaskinsella@miad.edu Logan Ladd: yellowlimps.tumblr.com Krister Larson: 1ack1uster.tumblr.com Grace Mitchell: cargocollective.com/gracemitchell Reece Ousey: rco-art.tumblr.com Bethany Price: essajetticks.tumblr.com Saige Rowe: saigerowe.tumblr.com Brett Suemnicht: brettsuemnicht.com Zachary Swearingen: zacharyswearingen.virb.com