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Issue 4 - Summer/Fall
2001
"In the wake of September the Eleventh, there may not appear to be
a pressing need for the likes of literature. And while failbetter
has not, nor will ever be, a forum for socio-political ponderings,
our focus remains true to one of the more pragmatic purposes of art—to
reflect upon our reality....."
Fiction
"...
At Howard Johnson's I always get
fried clam strips with French fries and extra tartar sauce and
bubble gum ice cream for dessert. The great thing about bubble gum
ice cream is saving the gum balls in your mouth until the ice
cream is all gone and then chewing the gum, which there's so much
of by then that it takes up your whole mouth. Grandma says that
gum chewing is not lady-like and makes me look like a cow."
"When
I was an unworldly girl of eighteen, I traveled to Peru with my spinster
aunt to see the Incan ruins and climb the peaks of Machu Pichu. Aunt Bea
was a dynamic, self-perpetuated loner, the sort of woman who derived her
sole erotic pleasures from mocking any man who was kind to her in even the
most professional, indifferent fashion...."
"....
At Jimmy’s we didn’t talk this way.
Alan racked and I broke and the sound of me connecting, of me scattering
balls to all the corners of that green felt earth was as satisfying as
anything I knew. Icy cold beer and music that made our heads nod, our hips
swing and grunt in agreement. I never knew then what I needed to know. I
never knew that misery leaks like a terrible viscous thing. I never knew
that I was able to poison and pollute, nor the stain my unhappiness could
create. I never knew what left me lurching toward emptiness, a skeptic
looking for proof of abandonment."
"I
felt bad about trying to sell Amelia, so I thought I could make it up to
her by getting her a date. I figured, she may be a tard, but even a
tard ought to be able to find somebody to love. So I told her,
"Amelia, I'm sorry I took you out on the street the other day and
tried to sell you for a dollar, but I'm going to make it up to you."
She smiled, but I don't think she really understood...."
Feature
Interviews
"At the risk of appearing disingenuous, I don’t
really think of myself as "writing humor." I’m simply
reporting on the world I observe, which is frequently hilarious...."
"...
I decided, in ninth grade, that I
wasn't going to be a math kid anymore because it seemed high time to
choose a specialty among the things you liked to do and BECOME that
species (book worm, math geek, jock, etc). So I refused math in lieu of
books...."
Poetry
"A
Queen in exile, she presides at table,
Her
weather-eye on rowdy merriment;
Her
rule seems easy, even negligent,
But
all the family knows her glance is able...''
"She
may as well be an angel
With those stains on her jeans and those wet swamp wings
Both of which are lying out to dry
On the broken concrete slab of my porch
From which I have to kick the dogs away....''
"Gray
Harbor, Maine" ..... Melissa McCreedy
"If
you stop and ask directions
They’ll
send you to the wrong place.
Natives,
sensing that you’re passing through
On
your way to the big houses on the coast,
Will
scoff at your stupid trust
You
should just know better.
Tired
and fed up,
They
have seen enough
Of
the summer folk’s extravagance....''
"Cleaning
Out the Garden" ..... Melissa McCreedy
"Untitled" .....
Cooper Esteban
"How
many nights I watched
him
hugging himself
in
their nest of moss, or
pushing
Eve
into
a tree...."
"Origami" .....
Cooper Esteban
Art
"The
subject of my painting keeps returning to the landscape and where the
human shows up in it. This may be partially due to living in a large city
where seeing a patch of green can feel like experiencing a dazzling
miracle...."
"Meadow
With Towers".....
John Lloyd
"Man
In Blue Shirt".....
John Lloyd
"My
work focuses on the ideas and definitions of beauty. I strive to document
these notions in vivid visual form, looking to fairy tales, art history
and contemporary magazines to interpret this meaning...."
"Why
Can't I Be You?".....
Jamé
Anderson
"Little
Girl" ..... Jamé Anderson
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Volume
II Issue III
