The Long Arc of Memoir with Susan Ross
Writing a memoir is not a cake walk for anyone, I suspect. But my fifteen-year journey from desire to fruition (but not yet publication) dragged me out of my comfort
Issue 17
Until the End of a Sentence
Fiction byLilian D. Vercauteren
On the Steps of Glen Park
Poetry byEvyan Roberts
The Price of Enlightenment
Fiction byRobert Hill Cox
you’ve walked in on me
Poetry byLove Alberts
The Basin
Nonfiction byDenise Dalfino
A Walk into the Enchanted Woodland
Fiction byPam Avoledo
The First Phone Call in 7 Months • SubdivisionsGolden Boy, Don’t Act Like You Were Kind
Poetry bySean Mulroy
Eugene
Nonfiction byJade Faul
Count his toes • Flittermouse • Preserves
Poetry bySam Alex
The Fifth Floor
Nonfiction byJordi Hutchinson Camus
Guilty Pleasure
Poetry byMegan Bresnahan
Admissions
Fiction byZary Fekete
Catechesis
Poetry byTerence Culleton
Emily as Unaccountable (January 13th, 2026)
Poetry byDarren Demaree
Breadbox Symphony
Poetry byMasie Lila Graham
Almost Paradise
Fiction byNathan Cover
The Precision of Red
Fiction byLeyla Guirand
Three Songs
Poetry byDavid Harrison Horton
The Meerkat at the Zoo
Fiction byDan Schiff
remember the year a slug
Poetry byMaye Humphries
Golden Boy, Don’t Act Like You Were Kind
Fiction byAlex McCullough
you & me at kenwood park • Eating Parasocial Relationship Alive • I Gaze at My Pain Like a Daughter
Poetry bySimone Parker
The Appraisal
Fiction byAlex Perry
Delicate Gods • A Dollar for Every Crow
Poetry byPeyton Aston
Sweet Sixteen
Fiction byLeanne Phillips
Cracks • What No One Says About Grandmother’s Dosas
Poetry bySambhu Ramachandran
Sound through Water
Fiction byKat St.Claire
Mirabilis
Poetry byWilla Stonecipher
The Swan’s Cottage
Fiction byJoseph Voth
Feed us.
thrum
Visio Divina: A Practice with Erin Trondson
I have perhaps the most unique job in the world. In addition to being a poet, I am the Executive Director of a monastery. This particular monastery is now many things
On the Wall: Crafting with Akiva Israel
ORIGIN: Sometimes, I dream and wake up in paintings. I dream the oftenest of Goya, of being on his walls, the real walls in the Maestro's long lost home, LA
Writing Between Irony and Gravity with Ben Carter Olcott
Read "Enter the Hype House" Here This is one of the most original and compelling pieces we’ve read at Marrow in a long time. It has everything—YouTube fame, excessive wealth,
Our Exploration Mechanisms with Nikola Milosavljevic
"Lafayette" feels like such a poem of place. You do a brilliant job of conjuring the feeling of being in such a particular place and time. How do you approach
Normalizing the Weird with Rick Krizman
The story incorporates elements that feel unconventional or “weird,” but they’re presented in a way that feels entirely natural within the world you’ve built. How do you approach normalizing the
Infiltrating the House with Lynn Fuller
What sparked the idea for this story for you? Where do you draw inspiration for your work?The piece was originally written for a ghost story contest, though that’s not my
Control and Writing Implicitly with Amy DeBellis
Where did the premise of this story come from?At first, I had the vague idea that I wanted to write about a package. Then I realized that the package itself
Casting Spells with Gerald Yelle
I love how much emotional tension you've created in these two short pieces. I was thinking about them for days after, all the terse sentences and how I couldn't decide
Crafting Tension with Timothy Day
This story feels quiet thanks to its forest setting, but it’s also quite tense – and the tension ramps up incrementally, building towards the reveal at the end. How did
Make a List: Writing Prompt by Leila Baron
When I sit down to write and feel stuck - or am working with a student who feels stuck - many of the prompts out there seem too specific (“It
Print Print Print!
At Marrow, we’ve always dreamed of being able to pay the talented writers who contribute their work to our magazine. We know this is a priority for many of you
Letter from the Editors
08/13/2024 “Do you think anybody would even read it?” “I dunno. But I would.” That’s a quote from probably our fourth literary magazine meeting, way back in early 2020. Kori,
Subverting “Normal” in Horror with Dori Lumpkin
This piece is so much, Dori! Thank you for letting us give it a home at Marrow. I wanted to first ask you about writing from place. I noticed in
Sneaking in the Details with Amy E. Casey
This story sets a good pace, and I love the way it ratchets up tension. From the beginning we feel disconcerted—shoulder pain, the torn duffel, the cryptic horoscope messages. How
“A Cardboard Woman”: No Such Thing As Closure by Nanette Rayman-Rivera
I wanted to write a poem about how I feel about my husband gone missing. It helped me while I was writing, just as it helped me when I went
The Uncertainty of What’s Real in the Worldwith Jill Stukenberg
This is a wild, inventive story that takes place in a world that feels both familiar and speculative—we’re familiar with reality TV and the pandemic, but this piece manages to
Getting Entangled in the World of Mushroomsby Brice Maiurro
A few years ago, I fell, no pun intended, deeply in love with mushrooms and mycelium. Recent media such as the glorious film Fantastic Fungi and the deep-dive of a
Discovering What the Subconscious Has in Storewith Mark L. Anderson
What inspired you to write "Great Existential Dread"?I discovered this story breadcrumb by breadcrumb. I didn't plan out much of the meaning before diving into it. What I did have
Wandering the Edge of the World with Gaia Thomas
with Gaia Thomas Wandering the Edge of the World with Gaia Thomas The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history…
Rewriting the Origins with Joy Lanzendorfer
Most of us are probably familiar with the English nursery rhyme: “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.” What is "Jack and the Candlestick's" relationship to
Three Elements with Michael Kellichner
"Dust Triptych" has such intense imagery, and its title evokes a powerful visual quality. Can you speak more to how this piece operates as a triptych with its three parts
What’s Imperative, and What’s Possible with John Van Wagner
"Smoke and Mirrors" has such interiority to it. How did you create your central character, and what informed the choice to stay so close to his inner thoughts? This piece
“Flashlights in the Dark”: Revealing Postpartum Psychosis with Jeniya Mard
The editors of Marrow each contributed questions for this joint interview with "Catharsis" writer, Jeniya Mard.What did you want to say with “Catharsis”? What do you want readers to know?Before
Little Tea Talk by Lea Ervin
Tea. Such a small leaf changed my life. As a southern girl, growing up in the Mississippi Delta, sweet Lipton Tea was a staple at our dinner table. My
T & A: A Playlistby Kim Freeman
The editors loved the idea of pairing music with "T and A," new fiction in Issue 5, so we asked author Kim Freeman to curate a playlist. Read the original
Working the Night Shift with Javyn Taylor
I really loved the atmosphere of this piece--maybe because I worked as a night auditor at a Best Western during my undergraduate years. There's almost a sense of Americana to
Finding the “Integrity” with Joshua Gottlieb-Miller
“Meet the Teachers Night” is a beautiful poem for many reasons, but I’m particularly interested in the form. This one features Google searches and the results of those searches.
Unreliability as It Relates to Gender with Genna Edwards
We love the spookiness of this story. There’s a lot more to it than spookiness and horror, of course, but we wanted to know: do you write horror regularly, and
Ghosts as Embodiments of Memory with Lauren Scharhag
I sense a tension in this piece between the analog world and the new technology of our current day, one that generates a strong sense of longing and memory.
That Human Connection with Mary Morris
I’m particularly intrigued by the idea of nests. They can be a place of rest and nourishment, but as we see in your poem “Nest,” they can also be a place
Making Room for Grief and Death with Renée Francoeur
Our editors have all lived in interior Alaska, so the setting of this poem really spoke to us. Can you talk about how place comes to bear on this
Spotlighting the Smut with C.S. Gonzalez
I especially loved this piece as the daughter of a preacher and an ex-Christian who left the church right around the time I left home for college. I remember all
Giant Vulva Playlist: An Outtake Vignette by Marco Etheridge
Giant Vulva Playlist: An Outtake Vignetteby Marco Etheridge Giant Vulva Playlist: An Outtake Vignetteby Marco Etheridge Captain Travers is having a very bad day, easily
Puzzling Through the Boundaries of Genrewith Priscilla Atkins
We love work that is outside of traditional forms. When you submitted this work, you marked it as "Genreless." Can you tell us a little bit about how you
Exploring Function and Voice with Katherine Ann Davis
This is very much a story about what it means to have a home, and what it can feel like trying to find one. So what do you think are
Ritualization and Diversion with Richard Risemberg
In “Limes,” there’s something meditative about the pacing, the delicate treatment of the sentences matching the delicate treatment of the limes themselves. Can you tell me what your process was
Writing Through Grief and Memory with Mollie Sullivan
In “Tom Is Dead,” there’s a tension between how you remember Tom, using a sort of aside to capture his memory, and how you imagine Tom to be feeling in
Inspiring the Text: Two Playlists by Scott Bassis
The editors love how cinematic "The Untold Story of Pedro's 'Secret Self'" is, so we asked author Scott Bassis to curate a playlist and/or watchlist to accompany the piece. He
On World-building and Unfolding Narratives with Su Croll
June 8, 2022 One of the many wonderful things about this story is that its setting manages to feel both familiar and new at the same time. While we
Some Notes on the Zuihitsuby John Morgan
May 1, 2022 We tend to think of Japanese forms as tight, syllable-counting, and focused on nature, but the zuihitsu is a kind of anti-haiku—a long prose poem that brings
Motherhood and Poetic Experimentation with Kara Rea
June 2, 2022 “In the Spring” has an interesting form, in terms of line lengths and stanza lengths. I love the way the stanzas seem to drip into each other.
Expanded Identity with Janna Grace
May 30, 2022 I love how breathless “When Your Words Are Dough” reads, as though you take one big breath and exhale an entire poem without needing more air. Can
On Human Landscape with Paul David Adkins
January 29, 2022 Our largely Floridian team of editors feel that your poetry smartly captures the essence and uniqueness of Florida. How do you feel a sense of place
Writing the Pandemic with Jacquelyn White
February 1, 2022 __________ You are writing a story about a pandemic–during a pandemic. How do you feel real-world events have influenced your writing, and what inspired you to explore
History and Form with Maggie Rosen
January 23, 2022 Your piece uses a unique form to explore an intersection between identity, discovery, and history. What inspired you to tell this story in this form? My family,