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QUARTER AFTER EIGHT

A JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL WRITING

Issue 10
The publication of this journal is made possible in part by a grant from the Ohio Arts Council.

The editors also wish to thank the following people and institutions: Robert DeMott, Marsha Dutton, Roderick McDavis, Daphne Metts, Joseph McLaughlin, and Dinty Moore. Special thanks to the Creative Writing Program and Department of English Department at Ohio University for their extraordinary support in recent years. >>>

General Relativity
Mabel Yu

He still recites the alphabet on his fingers. Given any random letter, he must recite the song to remember which letters are its neighbor and where it fits in the alphabetical order. P and Q before R. J a few slots after G.

He is the third son, between brother, Walter, and little sister, Jess. Alphabetically, he is the second child, before Jess, but after Blake. In height he comes first, a substantial six foot one. In weight he is second, after Neil, at one hundred eighty-five pounds. Where grades are concerned, he places fourth, with a three point eleven GPA.

He has never measured his IQ. Not his broad jumping ability, nor the time it takes him to run a mile. He has not measured his charm, nor his temper, his grace, his cruelty. He cannot count those things, so he doesn’t bother with a scale. He never knows where he stands because it always changes depending on who stands beside him.

He likes the alphabet for its permanence. Luzzi, Anzuini, Guiseppe, Piermarini—

What is left to say? Empty hats, hollowed to fit your head, still hang one by one by the back door. What remains in them is skin my voice can’t touch. If I say your name again, will you stay? dream only ancient cities we passed through like lovers on a forgotten path after dusk?

Volume 15
Issue 15

Cynthia Reeves / Naming the Dead

Elizabeth Bloom Albert / Pick

E.R. Carlin / φη

Genevieve Betts / Regeneration

Scott Bowman / I am scared of the following . . .

Mark Brazaitis / Eight Endings to the Same Story

Alison Christy / On the Fabric of the Human Body

Erika Eckart / Whale Songs

Elizabeth Ellen / More or Less

Joseph Gastiger / The Way I Fell

Ray Gonzalez / Ten Objects

Daniel Gutstein / The Yield

Sean Hill / simple faith

John Holliday / Relaxed, Settled, and Thoroughly Secure

Michael Jauchen / The Eagle’s Still My #1 Choice for the National Bird

Ruth Moon Kempher / Sharing the News with Madam X / Sleeping with Madam X

Rauan Klassnik / Shades of Green

Jason Larson / Say It That Way

Peter Moore / Vegan Shawarma

Stefani Nellen / Past and Future Dwellings

Scott Provence / How to Time-Travel

Dana Sonnenschein / Rodin’s Persephone / Rubens’ Girl

Merry Speece / Here

David Starkey / Q & A: Eternity

Ben Stein / Tending Body

Alexandra van de Kamp / On the Origins of a Cold Bowl of Cereal

Ann Walters / How Thunder Stepped into the Sky / John Wesley Powell and the Colorado River Blues

Mabel Yu /General Relativity

An Interview with Joe Bonomo

Zakes Mda’s Cion / Review by William Breeze

Jean Phillipe Toussaint’s Monsieur and Camera, plus The Customer is Always Wrong / Review by Jeff Bursey

Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence / Review by Brian Elliott

James Lewelling’s Tortoise / Review by Zach Kessler

Veronique Tadjo’s Red Earth / Review by Kathryn L. Nuernberger