A Literary Magazine Sponsored by The University of Maine at Farmington
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio starts with a child dying in a bombing by the Italian military. The narration states that they were just offloading ballast, a bomb specifically. It hits … Continue Reading Pinocchio but actually mostly about Chris O’Connell , A film essay by Sean Maher
By Anna Heneise An enduringly popular character in science fiction and fantasy is the living weapon— a person who isn’t a person so much as they are a destructive force … Continue Reading Bleeding Red: The Grand Army of the Republic and Humanization Through Violence, Part I
By Anna Heneise The infamous Order 66 sequence in Revenge of the Sith (2005) begins with Commander Cody opening a message from Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The order is issued. Without … Continue Reading Light and Dark: An Introduction to Racism in Star Wars
A film essay by Sean Miguel Maher I can’t watch a movie right now, I’m a little busy I stay in one place but only with I have to move, … Continue Reading Heaven Knows What.
By Anna Heneise When asked about how the original trilogy connected with the prequel trilogy, George Lucas infamously said, “It’s like poetry […] they rhyme.” Whether you find this phrase … Continue Reading “Like poetry:” Lucas, Legacies, and Working Backwards
It has come to our attention that the poems “Renovation,” “Fishing with Bill,” and “Dislocated,” published under the name John Kucera, were plagiarized. These poems were published through The River … Continue Reading In Regards to Plagiarism
My Babe – Little Walter Many who know me only tertiarily know me as the Harmonica Man. I spent the bulk of last year carrying around at least one harp … Continue Reading Don’t Stand No Foolin’
By John Tustin You told me not to die but I didn’t want to listen to you – I wanted to die right there and then or even during that … Continue Reading DON’T DIE
By Claudia Wysocky When it begins to sink— When it pains me to believe that something won’t change even though you try, And all your words mean nothing all these … Continue Reading Thoughts on Cars?
By Morgan Neering A woman filled with the joy of living returns home puts her keys on the table receipts from the store, puts the bills in a bowl there, … Continue Reading On the Kitchen Table
By George Wehrfritz Is it appropriate to call this a situation? Interfacing within parameters you freely selected, conversing at your behest about events in the little city which – although … Continue Reading A Very Barthelme Christmas
By W. Peter Collins I stood by the glass case that held Carla’s creations. Tall with a dark stained wood frame, the case stood impassively, like a sentry at the … Continue Reading Treasures in Exile
By Anne Whitehouse I The Moai It’s a miracle they are here at all, on a solitary island surrounded by ocean, thousands of miles from anywhere, with a volcanic crater … Continue Reading Burnt Statues
By Valerie Nichols I had lost my son. The water reflected this back at me. Here I was in the most beautiful, most famous garden in the world. Giverny. Soft, … Continue Reading Monet’s Garden
By David A. Goodrum Across from ripped-up tracks where trains no longer echo collapsed shacks retain ghosts of exhausted bodies. Under a broken and grey caved-in roof beneath overcast sky … Continue Reading Abandoned Dreams
By Charles Weld Twelve by fourteen feet, five windows, and a shed roof. For heat—a stove piped into a brick chimney. Outside—matched boards—clay color with chocolate trim. Within—bare wood, no … Continue Reading Ricketson’s Shanty