bestiary - preview

I S S U E 10 S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

Bestiary: the best of the inaugural demi-decade

Guest Editor

GINA OCHSNER

FOUNDING EDITOR

Colin Meldrum

FICTION EDITOR

Amanda Lyn DiSanto POETRY EDITOR

Lisa McCool-Grime

COVER & SECTION ILLUSTRATOR

Anna Bron

A cappella Zoo (ISSN: 1945-7480): a magazine of magic realism and slipstream. A cappella Zoo was founded in 2008 as an independent, labor-of-love publication.

Contributions to this special issue were selected by award-winning author Gina

Ochsner (www.ginaochsner.com). All illustrations were done by artist Anna Bron

except where otherwise credited to contributors Cheryl Gross and Gavin Faherty.

Support A cappella Zoo and its contributors by sharing your favorite stories and

poems with friends and colleagues. Enjoy.

Copyright 2013 All rights retained by authors/artists of respective works.

www.acappellazoo.com

Contents

5

a conversation with GINA OCHSNER

F I C T I O N P O E T R Y

Aquarium

11

The Creature from the Lake

Ginny

16

HAYES MOORE

ELIZABETH OBRIEN

17 The Life Story of a Chilean Sea Blob Versions 27 THEODORE CARTER ALI LANZETTA

30 The Sand Ship selections from In the Circus of You

NICELLE DAVIS &

CHERYL GROSS

33 CLAIRE MASSEY

40 The Collector of Van de Voys

EDMOND CALDWELL

46 Brunhildes Escape

DANYA GOODMAN

Phylum

49

Proximity

Dialysis

63

JOSH DENSLOW

PATRICK SUGRUE

64 Postcards from Home three Conrad poems 72

JOHN JASPER OWENS KRISTINE ONG MUSLIM

75 The Sacrosancts

RACHEL ADAMS

The Story of Jimmy

Draws-So-Small

84 81 Larva

RANDOLPH SCHMIDT ROBIN PATRIC CLAIR

F I C T I O N P O E T R Y

86

When the Weather Changes You

AMBER SPARKS

93 War Crumbs Reintroduction 97

JOE KAPITAN

JEFF PEARSON

Shelter

101

part one of Atomic Summer

Flowers, Shears

108

ANTON BAER

MICHAEL SCHMELTZER

109 Requiem for a Glass Heart from The Centipede Love Songs 113

ROXANE GAY

DANIEL PORDER

115 Oldjohns House This is the House That 123 MICAH DEAN HICKS

SHELLIE ZACHARIA

124 Three Times Red an excerpt from the human-suit series

JESSICA YOUNG

127 A. A. BALASKOVITS

130 Stain

MARIA DEIRA

Topiary

133

Take Up the Bonnet Rouge

an excerpt from

Liliths Extra Rib ALANA I. CAPRIA

139 CHANTEL TATTOLI

141 A Theory of Music WALTER BARGEN

144 The Watchmaker Beauty School 149 ERIC SCHALLER MARY LOU BUSCHI

150 The Legs Come Off Easily The Adventures of Starfish Girl 157 EMILY J. LAWRENCE LINDSAY MILLER

160 The Wooden Grandpa Man without a Wishbone 162 KURT NEWTON

PRARTHO SERENO

Crematorium

165

When the World Ends

Leaving La Dulce Vida

177 NICOLE MIYASHIRO

MARTIN OTT & JOHN F. BUCKLEY

179 Trouble in Mind Eclipse 192 JULIA A. ROSENTHAL FENG SUN CHEN

F I C T I O N P O E T R Y

193

The Rocket in the Sky

Teaching a Post Lunar World

201 ANDREW MITCHELL

CAITLIN THOMSON

202 Dearest Dirty Dig 218 TINA HYLAND & GAVIN FAHERTY MARGARET BASHAAR

219 Poppers Choice The Gun Game 221 ROBERT EDWARD SULLIVAN

BENJAMIN CLARK &

COLIN WINNETTE

222 Transaction

REDFERN BARRETT

Sacrarium

243

What Follows Us

In the Emily Dickinson Museum

247 ADAM MCOMBER

MARGARET WALTHER

248

The Paranormal Guide

to Wedding Etiquette

Kentucky-Fried Christ

261 PEDRO PONCE C. E. CHAFFIN

262 The End of the Objects Tale of the Avian Saint 273 JACK KAULFUS WILLIAM KEENER

274 Finding Your Way to the Coast Ballad of Conjure 284 JULIE DAY

FELICIA ZAMORA

285 La Chanson de lObservation Beelzebubstomp 296 BERNARD M. COX

M. P. POWERS

Aviary

299

Showtime

Circling of Cranes

306

NANCY GOLD

CHARLENE LOGAN BURNETT

307 Birds Every Child Should Know Sigilism 315

KATE RIEDEL

JOHN MYERS

316 Calling Rain The History of Sexuality 330

LORA RIVERA

JOSEPH HARRINGTON

332 Old Myths Magic Realists in Love 335

COLLIN BLAIR GRABAREK

LINDA ANN STRANG

Notes on Contributors

336

5

a conversation with

GINA OCHSNER

Gina lives in Oregon and divides her time between writing and teaching at Corban

University and with the Seattle Pacific Low-Residency MFA program. She has been

awarded a John L. Simon Guggenheim grant and a grant from the National

Endowment of Arts. She speaks at universities, retreats, conferences, schools, and

book clubs on creativity, magic realism, flash fiction, prose poetry, the intersection

of art and faith, and other topics related to writing. Her stories have appeared in

The New Yorker, Tin House, Glimmer Train, and The Kenyon Review. She is the

author of the short story collection The Necessary Grace to Fall, which received the

Flannery OConnor Award for Short Fiction, and the story collection People I Wanted to Be. Both books received the Oregon Book Award. Her first novel, The

Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight, was published by Portobello Press and

Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt.

COLIN: Based on your selections for this collection, how would you

describe A cappella Zoos landscape?

GINA: Im struck by the frolicsome, mischievous nature of so many of these pieces. Though the subject matter of much of the work is deepdark eventhe treatment rarely is and I think that this suggests a profound love of language among these writers.

COLIN: One of my favorite of your stories, How One Carries Another, is a contemplative, unique sort of ghost story, and its certainly not the only one youve written. Weve seen zombie and vampire fads dominate popular media lately, but would you agree that ghosts have kept a more

consistent seat at the story sharing table? Why dont we tire of ghost

stories?

GINA: I would agree that ghosts do in fact inhabit a more consistent seat.

Ghosts will outlast any bloodthirsty vampire or brain-deprived zombie

because the idea of ghosts being present among us speaks to a collective

desire between both living and dead to remain connected. I dont know of any culture that doesnt have some kind of a position as to the presence and meaning of ghosts (either as the subject of rumor and tales or as

accepted witness of another time/day). I dont think Ill ever tire of ghost stories because I find them fascinating forays into the world of the

speculative. What happens when a person dies? Where does the soul go?

6

What happens if someone were to become stuck for a time between two

worlds? What reason would a person have for hanging around and making

noise? Is it just noise or is there some larger message meant to be pieced

together? I suspect magic realists Gabriel Garca Mrquez and Isabel

Allende found ghosts to be useful manifestations of history, of adding

complexity and texture to the narrative and to other characters. And what

better way to show the contradictions inherent in living than by rousting a

ghost who can hold up the mirror, so to speak.

AMANDA: In a 2005 interview with Writers Digest, you mentioned a special love for the short story form. Since then youve published your first novel. Now that youve experienced writing in both short and long

forms, has your view of short stories changed? What do you think the

short story form offers readers?

GINA: I dont think Ill ever abandon the short story form. In fact, when Im feeling quite stuck on a longer project (and this happens more often than I

like to admit) I go to the creative sandbox, a soup of words and images, that

place of wonder and astonishment and surprise. I go to play, to have some

low down messy fun. And inevitably Ill emerge elbow deep in story. Short stories are like a burst of fireworksenergy only momentarily contained. I cant think of a more fluid, malleable form.

LISA: Unlike many literary journals, A cappella Zoo is fiction heavy.

While we hope to appeal to a broad range of readers, our intended

primary audience is fiction readers, an idea we keep in mind even when

considering poetry for publication. Whats in store in this anthologys poetry for readers who dont normally seek out poetry?

GINA: I think that the mark of a successful piece, whether fiction, drama,

essay or poem rests in the strength of the imagery and language. The poems

in A cappella Zoo are particularly image rich, image driven. Because of this,

I find the poetry evocative and yet, accessible. These pieces are built of

blood, bone, skin, and dreams you can sink a fork and knife into.

COLIN: You were a keynote speaker at Western Seminarys 2011 Faith and Culture Writers Conference and you teach for a private Christian

university. Does being a person of faith play a role in your sense ofor approach tomagic realism?

GINA: Being a person of faith