Tarpaulin Sky Magazine
Tarpaulin Sky Magazine
for your reading pleasure and pain
Hybrid / Transgenre / Monstrous Scripture
Lauren Russell, excerpt from “Descent”
"Heard a whippoorwill holler this morning for the first time this spring. Heard a whippoorwill holler. All hands choking cotton. Heard a holler, a whimper. Heard a will whip her. Will heard a whip. Whip or will." -- from Lauren Russell's Descent, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Jessica K Baer, excerpts from “Midwestern Infinity Doctrine”
"Behind the supercenter, its immortal gloaming a refinery pumps slowmagma against the purple-contour ripped sky. Outloud, colors I cry My God, My God." -- from Jessica K Baer's Midwestern Infinity Doctrine, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Jordan Chesnut, “How Gross, My Seances”
"In 2015, the body of my former partner was found in the wastewater treatment facility of our college town. I wrote this play-in-verse in an attempt to uncover the reason or path of his departure...." Jordan Chesnut's How Gross, My Seances, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Hybrid / Transgenre / Monstrous Scripture
Lauren Russell, excerpt from “Descent”
"Heard a whippoorwill holler this morning for the first time this spring. Heard a whippoorwill holler. All hands choking cotton. Heard a holler, a whimper. Heard a will whip her. Will heard a whip. Whip or will." -- from Lauren Russell's Descent, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Jessica K Baer, excerpts from “Midwestern Infinity Doctrine”
"Behind the supercenter, its immortal gloaming a refinery pumps slowmagma against the purple-contour ripped sky. Outloud, colors I cry My God, My God." -- from Jessica K Baer's Midwestern Infinity Doctrine, shortlisted for the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Poetry
Five Poems by Patrick Samuel
"Head never throws-up on purpose because there’d be no one / to hate if I got skinny."
Madison McCartha: Excerpt from “The Cryptodrone Sequence”
"when sharing a host / in the contagion zone / install my blue-threat-checkpoints along the doors & windows"
Olivia Cronk, excerpt from “Womonster”
"You’re dead meat baby. / You’re not gonna kill the Internet, and you already missed your chance to sleaze up your thirties. / I’m sure I don’t know what you mean / but that choke of diamonds / is certainly sweetening the deal." — from Olivia Cronk's Womonster, co-winner of the 2019 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards.
Poetry
Five Poems by Patrick Samuel
"Head never throws-up on purpose because there’d be no one / to hate if I got skinny."
Madison McCartha: Excerpt from “The Cryptodrone Sequence”
"when sharing a host / in the contagion zone / install my blue-threat-checkpoints along the doors & windows"
Fiction
“Summer Thighs”: Fiction by Elle Nash
"I wanted to fuck god or I wanted to fuck something else that wanted me on my knees, looking up."
“Conversation of a Girl and Death”: fiction by Emma Claire Foley
"Always on the edge of my mind you’ve been a dog, a dog in the house of love who tries its hardest to negate with its own being."
“A Pinker Pink”: fiction by Shantal Jeewon Kim
"I dreamed the same dream again, my sight blinded with pink, but this time when it covered my sight it started to turn red. And there was the dead flamingo."
Fiction
“Summer Thighs”: Fiction by Elle Nash
"I wanted to fuck god or I wanted to fuck something else that wanted me on my knees, looking up."
“Conversation of a Girl and Death”: fiction by Emma Claire Foley
"Always on the edge of my mind you’ve been a dog, a dog in the house of love who tries its hardest to negate with its own being."
Nonfiction
“Ars Necrotica”: non-fiction by M. Forajter
"Do we need our toxicants spelled out to us? Is that really necessary? It is so clear that an ocean full of plastic is wrong. It’s clear that we’re full of shit. I don’t know. Maybe. Honestly, when you live in a garbage dump, what else is there to do besides make things out of garbage?" -- M. Forajter
“Liminal Spaces”: non-fiction by Kelsey Inouye
"A therapist once suggested you write phrases on an index card, instructing you to read them whenever you start to obsess over food or experience the guilt that often follows a slice of birthday cake." — Kelsey Inouye
Julia Cohen’s and Abby Hagler’s Original Obsessions: “Late Morning When the World Burns” by Shamala Gallagher
Original Obsessions seeks to discover the origins of writerly curiosity -- the gestation and development of these imaginings -- focusing on early fixations that burrowed into an author's psyche and that reappear in their current book. In this installment, Tarpaulin Sky interviews Shamala Gallagher, author of Late Morning When the World Burns.
Nonfiction
“Ars Necrotica”: non-fiction by M. Forajter
"Do we need our toxicants spelled out to us? Is that really necessary? It is so clear that an ocean full of plastic is wrong. It’s clear that we’re full of shit. I don’t know. Maybe. Honestly, when you live in a garbage dump, what else is there to do besides make things out of garbage?" -- M. Forajter
“Liminal Spaces”: non-fiction by Kelsey Inouye
"A therapist once suggested you write phrases on an index card, instructing you to read them whenever you start to obsess over food or experience the guilt that often follows a slice of birthday cake." — Kelsey Inouye
Book Reviews
Stephanie Strickland’s “Ringing the Changes” reviewed by Erica Ammann
"I imagine a visual representation of Strickland’s textual cartography in which the contextualizing axes are nebulous, a mapping in the sense that it directs possible configurations of being while also conjuring an anti-topography that conducts echoes, vibrations, and undulations. " -
Kelly Krumrie’s “figuring”: Will Alexander’s “A Cannibal Explains Himself to Himself”
Figuring is a monthly column that puzzles over (to figure) and gives shape to (a figure) writing, art, and environments that integrate or concern mathematics and the sciences. This month's column explores Will Alexander's The Cannibal Explains Himself to Himself.
James Pate’s Evening Signals: Mariana Enriquez’s “Things We Lost in the Fire”
James Pate examines Mariana Enriquez's Things We Lost in the Fire (Penguin Random House): ."the literal and symbolic collapse into one another..."
Book Reviews
Stephanie Strickland’s “Ringing the Changes” reviewed by Erica Ammann
"I imagine a visual representation of Strickland’s textual cartography in which the contextualizing axes are nebulous, a mapping in the sense that it directs possible configurations of being while also conjuring an anti-topography that conducts echoes, vibrations, and undulations. " -
Kelly Krumrie’s “figuring”: Will Alexander’s “A Cannibal Explains Himself to Himself”
Figuring is a monthly column that puzzles over (to figure) and gives shape to (a figure) writing, art, and environments that integrate or concern mathematics and the sciences. This month's column explores Will Alexander's The Cannibal Explains Himself to Himself.
Reading Guides
What I’m Reading Now… by William Lessard
William Lessard discusses books by Tarpaulin Sky author Steven Dunn, as well as authors Hillary Leftwich, Rae Armantrout, and Joe Pan.
What I’m Reading Now… by Dana Teen Lomax
Dana Teen Lomax discusses books by Ta-nehisi Coates, Franz Fanon, Laura Hershey, Raina Telgemeier, and Magdalena Zurawski.
What I’m Reading Now… by Hélène Cardona
Hélène Cardona discusses books by Laura Braverman, Anne Fitzgerald, John FitzGerald, Elizabeth Cohen, and Blas Falconer.
What We’re Reading Now ….
What I’m Reading Now… by William Lessard
William Lessard discusses books by Tarpaulin Sky author Steven Dunn, as well as authors Hillary Leftwich, Rae Armantrout, and Joe Pan.
What I’m Reading Now… by Dana Teen Lomax
Dana Teen Lomax discusses books by Ta-nehisi Coates, Franz Fanon, Laura Hershey, Raina Telgemeier, and Magdalena Zurawski.
Music(k)
Guitar Astrology For Greta Thunberg
5-Track performs and discusses guitar interpretations of both Greta Thunberg’s astrology chart and the position of the stars at the time that he composed this essay: September 11, 2019.
Holistic Method Musick Exercises (part 1)
Including "Space Chord" (Sun Ra); "The 'This is the greatest album ever made' exercise" (Royal Trux); and "The Slow Dwell" (Y Road).
“Reiki Holograms”: Essay by 5-Track
TS Music(k) Editor 5-Track discusses Reiki in general, and more specifically the books Psychic Reiki, by Brett Bevell, and Essential Reiki by Diane Stein.
Musick
Guitar Astrology For Greta Thunberg
5-Track performs and discusses guitar interpretations of both Greta Thunberg’s astrology chart and the position of the stars at the time that he composed this essay: September 11, 2019.
Holistic Method Musick Exercises (part 1)
Including "Space Chord" (Sun Ra); "The 'This is the greatest album ever made' exercise" (Royal Trux); and "The Slow Dwell" (Y Road).
Occult Studies
Guitar Astrology For Greta Thunberg
5-Track performs and discusses guitar interpretations of both Greta Thunberg’s astrology chart and the position of the stars at the time that he composed this essay: September 11, 2019.
James Pate’s Evening Signals: Reflections on Olivia Cronk
James Pate examines Olivia Cronk's Skin Horse (Action Books) and Louise and Louise and Louise (The Lettered Streets Press): "the theatrical, the occult and the unnerving..."
Janaka Stucky’s “Ascend, Ascend” reviewed by Chris Muravez
"We thrive on the dead – animal and plant carcasses, fossilized energy, microbial environments in our guts – and in this sin, we are allowed to continue breathing, fucking, shitting, living, becoming." Chris Muravez explores "negative ecstasy, incantations, and ritualistic destruction of the ego" in Janaka Stucky's Ascend, Ascend, from Third Man Books.
Occult Studies
Guitar Astrology For Greta Thunberg
5-Track performs and discusses guitar interpretations of both Greta Thunberg’s astrology chart and the position of the stars at the time that he composed this essay: September 11, 2019.
James Pate’s Evening Signals: Reflections on Olivia Cronk
James Pate examines Olivia Cronk's Skin Horse (Action Books) and Louise and Louise and Louise (The Lettered Streets Press): "the theatrical, the occult and the unnerving..."