MUSE IS THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL PUBLISHED BY THE LIT VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1, JAN 2011 J U DITH MANSOU R Editor/Publisher [email protected] • Other TIM L ACHINA Design Director [email protected] ALEN K A BANCO Art Editor [email protected] NIN ANDREWS ROB JACKSON R AY M C NIECE DAVID M EGENHARDT K AR E N SCHU B ERT Contributing Editors [email protected] A LONG TIME AGO, I WAS IN 3RD GRADE. Laddy pencil KE llY K . B IR D in hand, poised to take my first Iowa Test. Sister Brendan Advertising Account Manager walked over to my desk, looked at my answer sheet, and [email protected] smacked the back of my head. She pulled me from my seat, pushed my desk to the corner of the room, and told me SUBMISSIONS may be sent electronically to [email protected]. We prefer electronic that Syrians were dirty cheaters and liars. She erased the submissions. MUSE publishes all genres of creative little circle that I had filled in next to White, took my hand writing — including but not limited to poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, humor, lyrics, and drama. and held it to color in the circle next to Other. The only Preference is given Ohio-based authors. remaining choice was Black. I am not Black. I am not White. I am not Syrian. IMPOSSIblE PROJECT BY PITZERIA JUDITH CLEVELAND’S LITERARY CENTER 2026 MURRAY HILL, SUITE 103 CLEVELAND, OH 44106 WWW.THE-LIT.ORG 216.245.5481 Founded in 1987 as Ohio Writer, MUSE is the quarterly journal published by The LIT, a nonprofit literary arts organization. No part of this journal may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. 01 11 M U COVER TOY-MACHINE-GUN IN SOUK WIllIAM MARLING S M 1 MUSE IS THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL PUBLISHED BY THE LIT VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1, JAN 2011 J U DITH MANSOUR Editor/Publisher [email protected] • Other TIM L ACHINA Design Director [email protected] ALEN K A BANCO Art Editor [email protected] NIN ANDREWS ROB JACKSON R AY M C NIECE DAVID M EGEN HARDT K AREN SCH U B ERT Contributing Editors [email protected] A LONG TIME AGO, I WAS IN 3RD GRADE. Laddy pencil KE llY K . B IR D in hand, poised to take my first Iowa Test. Sister Brendan Advertising Account Manager walked over to my desk, looked at my answer sheet, and [email protected] smacked the back of my head. She pulled me from my seat, pushed my desk to the corner of the room, and told me SUBMISSIONS may be sent electronically to [email protected]. We prefer electronic that Syrians were dirty cheaters and liars. She erased the submissions. MUSE publishes all genres of creative little circle that I had filled in next to White, took my hand writing — including but not limited to poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, humor, lyrics, and drama. and held it to color in the circle next to Other. The only Preference is given Ohio-based authors. remaining choice was Black. I am not Black. I am not White. I am not Syrian. IMPOSSIblE PROJECT BY PITZERIA JUDITH CLEVELAND’S LITER ARY CENTER 2026 MURRAY HILL, SUITE 103 CLEVELAND, OH 44106 WWW.THE-LIT.ORG 216.245.5481 Founded in 1987 as Ohio Writer, MUSE is the quarterly journal published by The LIT, a nonprofit literary arts organization. No part of this journal may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. 01 11 M U COVER TOY-MACHINE-GUN IN SOUK WIllIAM MARLING S M 1 D ECEM B E R C ONTRI B UTORS P EricAndersonNinAn drewsChristopherBar zakClaireBatemanKen B i n d a s L o r i Wa l d ComptonDeniseDu hamelErinGaddAnn HowellsMax JensenRay SUNSET BEACH SC TIM LACHINA McNieceWilliamMar 04FIVE IN THE MORNING, KEN BINDAS 05 YOUR AlIEN BRIDE, MARY TURZIllO 06THE B&O CROSSROADS OF TIME AND lingRobertMiltner SpACE, CHRISOPHER BARZAK 07UpON LEAVING MY ApART- MENT, MAX JENSEN 08GOING, SIMON PERCHIK 09IT’S CharlotteMorganNan COMplICATED, LORI WALD COMPTON 11BEIRUT REDACTED, WIllIAM MARLING 15THE BOTTOM OF THE ICEBERG, DIANE c yNi xonSi mon Per SUCHETKA 16THE PRESIDENT IS JAPANESE, CHARLOTTE MORGAN 17CONVERSATION, NIN ANDREWS WITH CHRISO- chikSusanPetrone Steve PHER BARZAK 22 NOT SAVING THE WORLD, ERIN GADD 26FLUID GROUND, SHANNON LEIGH THOMAS 28WHAT AUNT ReeseDia neSuchet LIZZIE SAW, SUSAN PETRONE 34ON CARLY SACHS AND OTHER, MARINA VlADOVA 35FROM LITURGY, TRANSLATIONS k a S h a n n o n L e i g h BY STEVE REESE 36SELECTIONS FROM LOCALS, ClAIRE BATEMAN 37HAll OF MIRRORS, ANN HOWEllS 38 ADS, DE- 01 ThomasMaryTurzillo NISE DUHAMEL 39KING DEALER, NANCY NIXON 40REVIEW: 01 11 TRAVELER BY LOU SUAREZ, RAY MCNIECE 42 THE EMPEROR 11 M M U MarinaVladova OF LIGHT, ROBERT MILTNER 43 THE PEOplE NEXT DOOR ARE U S PIG PEOplE, ERIC ANDERSON S E M M 2 3 D ECEM B E R C ONTR I B UTOR S P EricAndersonNinAn drewsChristopherBar zakClaireBatemanKen B i n d a s L o r i Wa l d ComptonDeniseDu hamelErinGaddAnn HowellsMax JensenRay SUNSET BEACH SC TIM LACHINA McNieceWilliamMar 04FIVE IN THE MORNING, KEN BINDAS 05 YOUR AlIEN BRIDE, MARY TURZIllO 06THE B&O CROSSROADS OF TIME AND lingRobertMiltner SpACE, CHRISOPHER BARZAK 07UpON LEAVING MY ApART- MENT, MAX JENSEN 08GOING, SIMON PERCHIK 09IT’S CharlotteMorganNan COMplICATED, LORI WALD COMPTON 11BEIRUT REDACTED, WIllIAM MARLING 15THE BOTTOM OF THE ICEBERG, DIANE c yNi xonSi mon Per SUCHETKA 16THE PRESIDENT IS JAPANESE, CHARLOTTE MORGAN 17CONVERSATION, NIN ANDREWS WITH CHRISO- chikSusanPetrone Steve PHER BARZAK 22 NOT SAVING THE WORLD, ERIN GADD 26FLUID GROUND, SHANNON LEIGH THOMAS 28WHAT AUNT ReeseDia neSuchet LIZZIE SAW, SUSAN PETRONE 34ON CARLY SACHS AND OTHER, MARINA VlADOVA 35FROM LITURGY, TRANSLATIONS k a S h a n n o n L e i g h BY STEVE REESE 36SELECTIONS FROM LOCALS, ClAIRE BATEMAN 37HAll OF MIRRORS, ANN HOWEllS 38 ADS, DE- 01 ThomasMaryTurzillo NISE DUHAMEL 39KING DEALER, NANCY NIXON 40REVIEW: 01 11 TRAVELER BY LOU SUAREZ, RAY MCNIECE 42 THE EMPEROR 11 M M U MarinaVladova OF LIGHT, ROBERT MILTNER 43 THE PEOplE NEXT DOOR ARE U S PIG PEOplE, ERIC ANDERSON S E M M 2 3 Morning. Your Alien Bride Crazy dreams. BY MARY A. TURZIllO Fast. Slow. You. A lot of you. Sitting still. 5 in the morning Your eyes are so beautiful. Felt like five days- BY KEN BINDAS Oh, I’m sorry, are those your kidneys? scenes in branches The Courtship fragile without coffee - in an hour and a half We can live on my planet or five minutes. or Earth Is that you kissing on my lips? The Proposal or in between I hear you, willing to sing of restoration unless you need oxygen. or daybreak. Thou art my song and vision. Flickering like a candle or a silent movie May you have many young, and may they be tender of a dance or a climber - and flavorful small and flowing but not moving only The Bridal Shower Toast six more miles. Being drug atop the hill where You may taste the groom the anticipated quiet is stirring. I almost wasn’t going to let you leave. The Wedding The sun blazing cold on my window. Ah! Oh! My love! Ahhhhh! Breath like smoke after a nice Excuse me, are you in pain? long The Wedding Night What is that crawling across the bed? drag. What? Your gestation period is sixty seconds? It never goes by without me thinking about you. Your smell— I will hold you every time Thank you. Delicious. your hands whisper to me 01 The Divorce “that’s the best way to love” when I 01 11 11 barely saw you at all. M M U U S S E M 5M 4 5 Morning. Your Alien Bride Crazy dreams. BY MARY A. TURZIllO Fast. Slow. You. A lot of you. Sitting still. 5 in the morning Your eyes are so beautiful. Felt like five days- BY KEN BINDAS Oh, I’m sorry, are those your kidneys? scenes in branches The Courtship fragile without coffee - in an hour and a half We can live on my planet or five minutes. or Earth Is that you kissing on my lips? The Proposal or in between I hear you, willing to sing of restoration unless you need oxygen. or daybreak. Thou art my song and vision. Flickering like a candle or a silent movie May you have many young, and may they be tender of a dance or a climber - and flavorful small and flowing but not moving only The Bridal Shower Toast six more miles. Being drug atop the hill where You may taste the groom the anticipated quiet is stirring. I almost wasn’t going to let you leave. The Wedding The sun blazing cold on my window. Ah! Oh! My love! Ahhhhh! Breath like smoke after a nice Excuse me, are you in pain? long The Wedding Night What is that crawling across the bed? drag. What? Your gestation period is sixty seconds? It never goes by without me thinking about you. Your smell— I will hold you every time Thank you. Delicious. your hands whisper to me 01 The Divorce “that’s the best way to love” when I 01 11 11 barely saw you at all. M M U U S S E M 5M 4 5 The B&O, Crossroads of Time and Space BY CHRISTOPHER BARZAK d WHEN thE writER HEnry MillER STEppED down from thE train HE’D takEN to Youngstown, Ohio in 1940, he saw two girls, heads wrapped in scarves, picking their way down the bluff of a hillside by the railroad, and thought of his days traveling through Greece, the heat and dust and flies, the Greek peasant women, baskets carried on their heads, slowly descending on bare feet.