On "Nothing Says Home Like Boredom" by Molly Gaudry (168 words) ***

You'll probably have to read this piece through a couple of times to figure out what's going on. Such is the way with language used so densely. But also, what that leads to are some great turns of phrase, like the title . . . or the last sentence. There's lust here--and love. Read the story here at Wrong Tree Review.

On "Dick" by Rebecca Kanner (3080 words) ***

What was it Wordsworth said? That poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility"? Well, that's what we have in Kanner's piece, but I don't think that this is the kind of thing Wordsworth had in mind when he was writing his definition. The tale is about junkies, a runaway, a twelve-year-old doing things that even someone twice her age has no business doing. There's a kind of innocence here, and it's recollected from an older age, recollected with a kind of love, even though the reality of the moment is anything but. Read the story here at Wrong Tree Review.