1. One half of a couple staring at a woman in a pink dress resting her head on a picnic table: Shh, she’s the one from the hotel.
2. The other half pointing at the man sitting next to the woman in the pink dress: Maybe he kidnapped her, and she has Stockholm syndrome.
Nonfiction
Thirty Things Overheard While Attending My Friend’s Wedding
Mick Jagger Mails a Letter
by Robert Fromberg
Once I saw Mick Jagger mail a letter.
The Trembling Nasties
by William Luvaas
I am told I was a happy, mischievous kid who smeared peanut butter on walls. Insatiably curious, I would sit down next to strangers on buses and start up conversations. I have heard that I liked to make people laugh. I don’t remember any of this.
Smoking with Art
by Patricia Feinman
Our hair and every piece of clothing we owned were impregnated with the stench of smoke—we stank of smoke—but we didn’t care, because we loved smoking.
I Lines
by Bobby Crace
The words surrounding an “I” form sentences that can be referred to as “I Lines.” A person knows how to be an “I” before they know what an “I” is.
Year-End Wrap-Up: The MAYDAY Editors’ Books of the Year
Looking for book recommendations? To celebrate the end of the year, the MAYDAY editorial staff shares the books they read and revisited in 2021.
Murmurations (I): First Memory of Birds
by Heather Bartel
Is a family portrait still a family portrait when a family is missing the mother?
Made Easy
by Venus Noirre
“I was pimped out by an acquaintance when I was at my most vulnerable. It may come across I’m cavalier with this, but I’m not. I’ve just let the shame of it all go.”
The Boy Is Now an Obituary
by Alyse Bensel
What killed him has been excised from the obituary. It exists in the blank space along the margins. Because it is easier to say died than overdosed.
You Seem Really Lonely
by Sage Tyrtle
For two weeks I wish Marta dead. With every breath I take in. I am not proud of this.
