descant 1 2 descant Fort Worth’s Journal of Fiction and Poetry VOLUME 56, 2017 TCU Press, USA 3 descant Fort Worth’s Journal of Fiction and Poetry Volume 56, 2017 www.descant.tcu.edu Editor Matthew Pitt Advisory Editor Charlotte Hogg Poetry Editor Alex Lemon Associate Poetry Editors Joddy Murray Nathanael O’Reilly Curt Rode Associate Fiction Editors Kasey Carpenter T. J. McLemore Adam Nemmers Graduate Assistant Saffyre Falkenberg Cover Artwork Haiku, by Sherry Abbasi (Front Cover) Rainbow, by Sherry Abbasi (Back Cover) Publisher Dan Williams / TCU Press Assistant Editor Jonathan Barfield We welcome submissions of poetry and prose from September 1 – April 1. Submissions re- ceived outside of the reading window will be discarded. We strongly prefer that potential con- tributors use our free online system, Submittable (descant.submittable.com/submit), to send work. Those wishing to submit via U.S. post may send work to descant, c/o TCU Department of English, Box 297270, 2850 S. University Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76129. Submit up to five (5) poems, or one (1) single prose submission, up to 5000 words. Please submit no more than twice during each reading period. A self-addressed stamped envelope must be included with traditional submissions to guarantee reply or return of submissions. 4 Contents Poem by Paul Hostovsky • Poem .................................................................................................................................. 8 Poems by Kelly Nelson • Origin ................................................................................................................................. 9 • Upkeep ............................................................................................................................. 10 • Return .............................................................................................................................. 11 • Anniversary ..................................................................................................................... 13 Fiction by Jane Renaud • Hollywood Nails ............................................................................................................ 14 Poems by Dexter L. Booth • After the last flower is trampled .................................................................................. 25 • Conversation Starters or Things I’d Never Say to You in Public ........................... 27 • Enoch ............................................................................................................................... 29 Poem by Laura McCarty • Vicuña .............................................................................................................................. 31 Poem by Eva Skrande • Monologue of the Abandoned Building .................................................................... 32 Fiction by Christopher Linforth • Whole Body Warm ........................................................................................................ 33 Fiction by Terence Kuch • Super Deal ....................................................................................................................... 44 Poems by Susanna Brougham • Summer Camp ................................................................................................................ 51 • Iceblink ............................................................................................................................ 52 Poem by George Eklund • An Orchestra .................................................................................................................. 53 Poem by Robin Scofield • Maria Better Than Nothing ......................................................................................... 54 Fiction by Jeannette Brown • It’s Not Even Past .......................................................................................................... 55 Poem by Ian Randall Wilson • The Isolation ................................................................................................................... 61 5 Poems by Charles Harper Webb • Situs Invertus .................................................................................................................. 62 • Plushophilia ..................................................................................................................... 63 Poem by Garret Keizer • For a Friend About to Give Notice ............................................................................ 64 Featured Artist, Sherry Abbasi • Biography ........................................................................................................................ 65 • Artist’s Statement ........................................................................................................... 66 Fiction by Richard Wirick • Ophelia ............................................................................................................................ 67 Poems by Karen Faris • The Mannequin Poems: She Who Is Plastic Is Sealed ............................................. 74 • The Mannequin Poems: It’s Been a Perfectly Pleasant Arrangement .................... 75 Poem by Peter Marcus • Biopsy .............................................................................................................................. 76 Fiction by Ana Menéndez • How to Raise a Child ..................................................................................................... 77 Fiction by Toni Jensen • Ever After ....................................................................................................................... 78 Poems by Inez Tan • Toil ....................................................................................................................................79 • Throw Yourself Down from Here ............................................................................. 80 • The Source of the Darkness Was Unconfirmed ...................................................... 81 Poem by Paul Sohar • Drowsy Road .................................................................................................................. 82 Poems by Cody Todd • The Invisible Man Smoking a Cigarette ..................................................................... 83 • The Shaving .................................................................................................................... 84 • Hamlet as Rhinestone Cowboy ................................................................................... 85 • Frontier ........................................................................................................................... 86 Fiction by Claire Day • Fractured Memory ......................................................................................................... 87 Poems by Alison Stone • Denial ............................................................................................................................... 97 6 • Sisyphus ........................................................................................................................... 98 • Endymion ........................................................................................................................ 99 Poems by Bruce Bond • Purchase ........................................................................................................................ 100 • Bomb ............................................................................................................................. 101 Fiction by Brad Eddy • The Aquarium .............................................................................................................. 102 Poems by Alexis Trevino • For You (when you find my hair on your floor): .................................................... 115 • For You (Genetics Part 1): .......................................................................................... 116 • For You (when distance is more than geography): ................................................. 117 • For You (Genetics Part 2): .......................................................................................... 119 • For You (when you can’t find enough words): ........................................................ 121 Poems by Adam Clay • Between the Heron and the Wren ............................................................................. 123 • Devotion to Eternity in a Temporary World ........................................................... 124 • The Art that We Are .................................................................................................... 125 Contributor Notes .......................................................................................................... 126 2017 Award Winners ...................................................................................................... 130 7 Poem Paul Hostovsky Some pronounce it poim. Like it has an oy inside it. The way an oyster has an oy inside it. The way all poems ought to have a little oy veh and a little oyez! oyez! inside them, if only just to say Hey, listen up, there is death in the world. Others pronounce it po-um. Like it has an um inside it. A thoughtful pause. A caesura. A possum that got run over, its esses elided. Me, I always say pome. Like an apple or pomme I want to bite into because it has an om inside it, a mystic and sacred syllable I can’t wait to reach and I have no patience for all the diphthongs. 8 Origin Kelly Nelson Imagine