Working the tooth back and forth with my tongue, I begin to feel the pain of it. Something, some large bird, pecked it loose while I have lain here semi-conscious under the influence of whatever was put into my IV. This thing, this bird thing, had been only half visible to my blank, stoned eyes [...]

Listen to Matthew Vasiliauskas read his story, “The Suit.”   Matthew Vasiliauskas is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Film and Video Production. In 2009, he was awarded the Silver Dome Prize by the Illinois Broadcast Association for best public affairs program as producer of [...]

He was dead when he tried to wake up. “Wake up,” he yelled silently to himself, although it didn’t sound silent to his voice. “Brr, brr, brr,” shouted his alarm clock as it glared two red fives, a colon and a seven at him. “,” said his immobile body. “Come on, wake up. Get your [...]

        They didn’t fall in love. The boy and the girl. The boy with anyone, the girl with her dog. Running in the backyard after dreams or nothing or things thrown out in front of them. The boy chased after dead rabbits. The girl followed her dog around like a sleuth. The [...]

Cody was always getting interrupted. He lurched from sleep, the pale whine of a car alarm buzzing in the background. His feet had escaped the blanket during the night and felt thick and cold, no longer a part of him. His pillow was bunched under his right shoulder as if the mattress had a tumor. [...]

Tony Granik looks up at the silo, that blue angel of death, then over the acres that reach out as far as drowning arms. It’s two weeks until harvest, and he knows the corn hasn’t gotten the attention it needs. He knows that during growing season, corn is like a newborn baby, that it needs [...]

I have a sudden feeling I could tell you anything. It is not the feeling I created. It is not the same as when we said goodbye the first time, when you held me and we both became aware we had a body. It is not the same as when I felt that you were [...]

If the cow dies, the dwarf and his wife will have to buy their milk at the market. This would be devastating. Of course, the cow’s milk hasn’t provided any real nutrients for years now. Its head is like a fossil, or something Mycenaean. It’s like drinking watered-down spit, although the dwarf likes to call [...]

One more trip to the store for her cigarettes. He has come to hate the drive, something he found beautiful just months before. Now, the vitality of it repulses him—the violent green of the grass, the desperately flowering dogwoods, the creek bottoms churning and gasping with life. He doesn’t make it all the way to [...]

So many things can happen out of the country. Take for instance the indecision inherent in choosing just one flavor from a display of gelato. I could be so simple, really, if the world would just let me. I give instructions to newcomers. Point to the flavor you like. Ignore the roll of the eyes. Hold out several [...]