You’re walking. And you don’t always realize it, / but you’re always falling. / With each step you fall forward slightly. / And then catch yourself from falling. / Over and over, you’re falling. / And then catching yourself from falling. / And this is how you can be walking and falling at the same…

A brief video and a story by Elizabeth Ellen. Prepare for Bloat Adam says, You want all of your relationships to be on your terms. Which seems like a ridiculous statement, like saying I want to be healthy or I want to not get in a car accident on my drive home. I call that…

Allergies, Diagnosed: Attic dust, sandbox sand, pumpkin seeds. Knowing your fears does not always protect you from them; that should have been your husband’s job. Allergies, Undiagnosed: On your geocaching honeymoon to Nigeria, you and your one and only twenty-two-year-old husband dined under an umbrella tree of exotic fruit shaped either like mythological horns (his…

Note from Jess: Today, Alex gives us his theory of “The List.” Tomorrow he puts it into practice. So make sure to check-in tomorrow to read Alex’s “Dictionary of Your Fears.” Parochial Plaids, Self-Cogitation, the Water Moccasin Myth, and “I Might Want to Come Back”: How You’re Already Trying to Figure Out What This List…

Note from Jess: I’ve been sharing Travis’ erasure of the 9/11 Commission Report this weekend. Fact-Simile is offering the entire O Mission Repo for free, as an e-book, from today until September 18th. Travis Macdonald is a poet, copywriter and occasional essayist. Recent books include: BAR/koans) (Erg Arts 2011), Hoop Cores) (Knives, Forks and Spoons…

Travis Macdonald is a poet, copywriter and occasional essayist. Recent books include: BAR/koans) (Erg Arts 2011), Hoop Cores) (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press 2011), Sight and Sigh) (Beard of Bees 2011), N7ostradamus) (BlazeVox Books 2010), Basho’s Phonebook (E-ratio 2009) and The O Mission Repo) [vol. 1] (Fact-Simile 2008). Other poetry and prose has appeared in…

Note from Jess: When I promised you a smorgasbord, I meant it. For many of us, the books we read in high school English classes defined our relationship with literature. It was Mrs. Nacca, my high school English teacher, who first showed me the power of literature to transform. I remember reading Song of Solomon…

Work on your posture, knit a sweater, make up a language to use when speaking with your cats, bang your head against a wall. Listen carefully, go to the roof and marvel at the sky and how much of it you can see when sitting in one place. Work on your lunges, organize your unopened…

Note from Jess: My husband, Frank, and I returned to the United States this summer after a year living on an island off the Northwest coast of Wales. In Wales, Frank was studying cognitive linguistics at Bangor University, so I introduced myself to members of the English department to see if I could sit in…

Recently, after admitting to a couple friends (notice the verb) I had a comic book review blog, both mentioned they had not yet started reading—and here both paused— graphic novels. They said it as though reading a comic book was one of modern life’s new requisites. The popularity of superhero movies, whether pretentious or straightforward…

On the radio we’d heard about a trend in nature in which wolf packs were growing larger and larger – expanding into super packs. The packs were impossible to fight off. They’d attack one small animal and share the meat among them, then find another prey. It was like the wolf-version of small plates. These…

Writing a book review makes me physically ill. Or let me rephrase: writing a book review that will be made public makes me physically ill. Factors that contribute to this illness include: the packs of cigarettes chain-smoked alongside the triple-shot Americanos that transition in the late afternoon to the bottle of wine required to finally…