A Literary Magazine Sponsored by The University of Maine at Farmington
The River is a representation of the Sandy River itself, which runs alongside the university and what inspired the name of the journal. It is a constantly flowing, ebbing and surging, body of content filled with contemporary work. To submit to The River please visit our Submissions page to the left or e mail TheRiverEditors@gmail.com directly.
By Anna Heneise Violence is foundational to Star Wars. In fact “Star Wars” is probably the most basic and accurate name that could have been given to this sprawling story … Continue Reading Bleeding Red: The Grand Army of the Republic and Humanization Through Violence, Part II
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
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
By Madeline Pumphrey Ode to the Blue-Ringed Octopus Laying in the shimmering sandsA brooch buried beneath the rolling waves A striking gold lemonEncrusted with luminous rings of lapis Not quite … Continue Reading “Ode to the Blue-Ringed Octopus”, “Springtime” and Three Haikus
By Miriam Manglani None were worth writing about. Many in my college days were tall.One was a body builderwith pale skin and marbled veinswho ate twelve egg whites for breakfast.We … Continue Reading Boyfriends, a History
By Travis Park I stared out the window with dead eyes. Rabbits jump in the trees springing like dead leaves. The ocean is in the view of my rearview mirror. … Continue Reading Sunsets Over
By Anna Heneise EXT. BACKYARD, MID AFTERNOON 1 An old two story Victorian style house bakes in the sun. The back porch is concrete, with a screen door, both very … Continue Reading Bath Time
By Sevde Kaldiroglu Sometimes You have a way of making men fall in love with you think God brought you to life to bring light to people’s lives You look … Continue Reading Maneater and other names they call you by
By Seth Copeland Flood Season cornflowers & firewheels dip in the wind before a flash flood every time we dream of leaving this place it tries to drown us river … Continue Reading Flood Season, Saint Christopher, and Mid-October Haibun
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
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 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 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