Michael Simms: GUSHER by Christopher Soden
Learning to be oneself and to love oneself is the central narrative in Gusher, a remarkable book about a gay man growing up in Dallas, Texas in the 1980s.
Video: Durango
Durango follows Aaron and TJ through aimless days spent diving from cliffs, lighting fireworks and chatting about girls, as the siblings’ uncertain future lingers in the background.
Myths and Facts About Male Sexual Abuse and Assault
Cultural myths surrounding the sexual abuse and assault of boys and men can be serious obstacles to understanding and healing, so it’s important to learn just how wrong they are.
Lindsey Royce: Purification And All That Fuckery
My hovel, my mess—surfaces like baseball mounds, my pubic mound—books papers piled, my checkbook math, an epic fail—cleanliness, godliness—washing the carpet, the body—a good Catholic girl I was scared of … Continue reading
Dawn Potter: Mother to Son
Always with the video games when you’re sad,
as if the gunshots are manna, or music,
which isn’t to say I think you’re planning
to shoot up a grocery store—no, no
Meg Pokrass: Moments with Crochet Hooks
Back then she and her mother waited for the phone to ring, for money to plump itself up and walk through their door. Moments passed with yarn and crochet hooks.
Tayve Neese: At thirteen
Oh, Mariah, my life is now an apology
for how I forgot you, and let the tide
of my own life take me out to sea
when I knew that you needed me.
Rita Sims Quillen: Sugar-n-Spice, Etc.
Once we sneaked out of a slumber party
tiptoed onto an icy bridge
still in our babydoll pajamas and
froze our prissy asses off
Ellen McGrath Smith: Good Friday, Fernhill Dump
Standing, a girl-boy, on the junked car in the dump,
some other kids across the dump standing on their cars
Video: Little Brother
Little Brother charts the transitional time of adolescence when childhood ends and independence comes into fruition.
Chuck Taylor: Cutting
At first, I had no idea why the dogs were in the cages. I heard stories that the dogs were picked up running loose at night through many neighborhoods and delivered in old trucks to the hospital at night. I could tell that many of these dogs had been pets.
Rory Leyva: The Lessons of Mortality
Even though I am only 12 years old, I know my life won’t last forever, and someday I, too, will reflect on my past decisions. We were all born to exist and eventually die, so we have evolved to value things in the context of mortality.
Michael T. Young: What My Daughter Thinks of Herself
My daughter browses a book on puberty.
Elizabeth Kirschner: Parochial Pain
Screened-in porch. In summer. Orchard darkness in a fox pelt of woods. Quiet flat as a dime, as the Midwest itself. I rock, smoke cigarettes. The bead-heads of tobacco smell … Continue reading
Vox Populi 