December 8, 2024
Michael Smith shows life in a handful of dust, and J.D. Isip ponders what we live, root and write for.
The Mayfly
Culture Essay by Michael Smith
Excerpt: As a schoolboy I was shocked, outraged even, that a creature could have its entire existence limited to just one day.
Writing Against Oblivion
Culture Essay by J.D. Isip
Excerpt: If we are honest, we all want to be ghosts.
December 1, 2024
Marie Cloutier channels grief to fuel her quill, and Mary Buchanan dissects the world’s favourite house mouse.
Writing through Disenfranchised Grief
Craft Essay by Marie Cloutier
Excerpt: I purchased a notebook and a pen and thought how I might fill the book.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Culture Essay by Mary Buchanan
Excerpt: The only question left for you to consider now is what happens when Mickey shows his shadows—his deeper, fallible, more steeped-in-sin-human qualities—over what audiences have been conditioned to expect.
November 24, 2024
Mathieu Cailler versifies the surreal and the absurd, and Billie-Leigh Burns descends into the pantry downstairs.
‘The Astronaut Missed the Moon,’ ‘After the Ghost of Relationships Past Told the Truth’ and ‘Vanishing Point’
Humour by Mathieu Cailler
Excerpt: In his spacesuit, he fetched the morning paper and grabbed a Grand Slam at Denny’s.
Hell’s Kitchen
Humour by Billie-Leigh Burns
Excerpt: Steve Irwin takes his place in the cafeteria line. I ask him what he’s doing down here.
November 17, 2024
Parul Desai Shah encounters the invidious immigrant experience, and Jahnavi Gogoi discovers discrimination close to home.
Smells Like Home
Culture Essay by Parul Desai Shah
Excerpt: “A buyer said the house smelled. Like spices,” Nina stated with dramatic condemnation. This was a bullet wound to my family’s soul.
Satyanarayan Katha
Culture Essay by Jahnavi Gogoi
Excerpt: At one point in my childhood, I declare that I am an atheist. I do not believe in god. Everyone is horrified.
November 10, 2024
Shikha Valsalan travels, parties, yawns and cares in verse, and Miss BayLeaf paves the road to armageddon.
‘Jobless Evil Eye,’ ‘Only Controlled Disasters’ and ‘Darkness, My Old Friend’
Humour by Shikha Valsalan
Excerpt: I am the ultimate / jumbo jinx retardant…
Count Down the Way to Hell
Humour by Miss BayLeaf
Excerpt: Did Israfil blow the trumpet of doom or is it the constant ringing in my ears?
November 3, 2024
Daniel Fitzpatrick follows life along a loafing leaf’s locus, and Mark McConville traces a whirlwind of emotions through Holding Absence’s rock masterpiece.
Leaves
Humour by Daniel Fitzpatrick
Excerpt: It is tempting, when an oak leaf / falls into your empty cup…
Hunting for Joy through Music — Holding Absence’s The Noble Art Of Self-Destruction
Music Review by Mark McConville
Excerpt: To create art, you must be ambitious, and Holding Absence shows they’re masters of melancholia while breaking ground.
October 20, 2024
Katha Haldar and Sarthak Das traverse the heart of Bengal, and Anita Nahal breathes in Daipayan Nair’s earthy haiku.
Salt, Shadows and the Tempest — A Drifting Odyssey
Travelogue by Katha Haldar and Sarthak Das
Excerpt: As we gazed out of the bus window, the road unfolded before our eyes. Sometimes it veered, entering the heart of a distant village.
Heart-touching and resplendent haiku — Daipayan Nair’s the ten hands of a fuchka seller
Book Review by Anita Nahal
Excerpt: As Santōka Taneda, Japanese author and haiku poet, expressed quite rightly, “Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.”
The archive currently links to the old website. They will be uploaded to this website in due course.