BUY PRINT & DIGITAL

 I didn’t want it 

to be this dirty secret.

I THINK I’M PANSEXUAL BUT— BY ELLIE PRUSKO 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 99

I think I’m pansexual but—she said—I still love you and want to be with you forever. He said: Okay. She said: Okay? That’s it? He said: I just don’t really know what to say to that. She said: Okay. He said: I mean, I kinda knew already. She said: Oh. Well I didn’t want it to be this dirty secret and then I start resenting you for it.

I am but working hard to feel alive.

VAGABOND HEART BY MARYANNE CHRISANT 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 99

I been always whistlin’ a twisted little song.

Alone in a cold train station, going where? 

Do you know?

To play chess seriously you had to quit your other life.

AUTO-FLASHES BY PETER STINE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 99

Marcel Duchamp had abandoned surrealism for chess, seeing the pieces as “a visual design on the chessboard, like a poem”. To play chess seriously you had to do it all the time, quit your other life. In response, Duchamp’s wife glued the pieces to the chessboard.

I keep my head down.

EVERY MINUTE, EVERY HOUR BY EVAN LITTLE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 99

Waiting in front of the house, I keep my head down low,  so I look less threatening and more professional. Like I’m supposed to be here for work instead of whatever else the neighbors may be afraid of.

The thought of a neighbor is so anxiety-inducing that my breathing turns shallow. 

BUY PRINT & DIGITAL

Y’all ladies cooking crockpot chili with the door locked.

LAW AND LITERACY IN LULANOCCA BY PAMELA SUMNERS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 98

They’ve took prayers out of school and our girls get themselves pregnant and then this ACLU crowd wants us to teach kids how to avoid the consequences with what they call sex ed. 

Didn’t you say there was nothing off limits?

EXTRACT FROM WILD HORSES BY JORDI CUSSÀ 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 98 

“Your father phoned.” “My father…? Let me see, let me see... hang on a sec. No, doesn’t ring any bells, sorry.” “Don’t play dumb with me.” “I’m sorry, Laura, but you’re the one playing dumb. If you want to tell me something, go ahead, nothing’s off limits, but don’t mention the Shadow’s name in front of me! At least not while Franco is still alive.”

Run, I beg the girl in the frame. 

RUN BY TESS LIEGEOIS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 98

Run, I beg the girl in the frame. She’s black and white and squared in silver. The danger is coming—It will be there soon, at your door.

There seemed no other conclusion.

CONCLUSION BY DESMA CAPUTO 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 97

Once she’d spoken the words “I don’t want to be married any more,” there seemed no other conclusion. She couldn’t suck the words back.

Me, I prefer Shakespeare.

ALL OF ME LIES THERE BY DAVID WATERS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 97

Claire Hathaway was not that much older than I was but she taught Shakespeare. 

“Let me get this straight. You need to get an A in my course because you are applying to medical school?”

Pick the ending you want.

DEAD CAT BY MELVIN STERNE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 96

What’s the most likely ending? What’s the worst-case scenario? What’s the best ending? There’s a billion potential endings. Pick one.

I made it through. 

On my own.

MACHINE GIRL BY REBECCA EGAN 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 96

I want a signal that screams I made it through. On my own. I found a way out. 

She was never the kind of sister their father thought she was.

A GOOD SISTER BY WENDY TATLONGHARI BURG 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 95

“Has she talked to you at all?” Her father often assumed his children were conspiring against him, or protecting each other in some way, which to Nina was absurd. “Why would Pia talk to me about any of it?” she asked, tone dry, expression bored.  “You’re her sister,” he said.

Some days Cole could go for hours forgetting Collette.

NO SMOEKING BY S LEE BENNETT 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 95

She did not exist in his head any more. Nor had she for years. The name did not anger him as it once did, but it still saddened him. And more than anything confused him. Collette was no longer a person he recognized himself to be.

The only person who’s got your back is you.

Salem Rose, you can’t trust any motherfucker. You can talk with people, and be cool with them, but people are ruthless and disgusting, and the only person who’s got your back is you. Nobody got you like you got yourself, Salem Rose. You have to take care of yourself and tell everyone to go fuck themselves.  “I know dad,” I would tell him, giggling because I knew he would get mad at me if I swore. 

FROM HUMBLE EYES BY SALEM ROSE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 94

One of life’s great mysteries 

had finally been revealed to her.

FIRST FRIDAYS BY ZACH SWISS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 93

More like it had splintered into millions of little mysteries jostling in the darkness.

Whatever happens 

happens for the good.

A SCUT OF EARTH BY ELIZABETH KIRSCHNER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 93

Bean whispered, you could place your hand in a ripe fruit and withdraw a beautiful afternoon. He said, “Whatever happens happens for the good.” 

 You wore my hat and laughed as 

 we walked home hand in hand.

LOVE AND PHILODENDRON BY PATRICK SEAMAN 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 83

It was a quick walk down to the little creek that ran through your father’s backyard. We would kick off our shoes and ball our socks into our pockets and feel which rocks were the slimiest and search for crayfish with our toes. I remember you wore my hat and laughed as we walked home hand in hand and I told you to keep it and you did.

It only mattered that I was beautiful.

I can’t figure out whether he’s not texting me today because he’s finally gotten tired of me or if he’s just busy. 

Finally, I got it: 3-D Augmented Reality meant sock puppets.

AUGMENTED REALITY BY SUZANNE LAGRANDE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 30

I reread The Memo. At the very bottom in fine print it said: “Everyone is required to make a hand puppet.” 

Listen to the surf. I could lie here, lie here with you forever.

STARTING AGAIN BY LINDSAY SMITH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 89

Do you think we could do things together always? I mean, like we could be these archaeologists sifting the sand for the remains of ancient civilisations, and together all the time, sharing everything.

 Everything, she thought, is 

 an accident of where you are.

STEALING HOME BY KAY BONTEMPO 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 78

Two bell peppers, Muenster cheese. Cauliflower, a pack of Newports, Tampax. Martinelli’s apple juice. Paper towels two-ply. English Breakfast tea. Boil-in-a-bag rice, paper clips, ramen noodles. Maybe some ice cream if there was money left over. America’s Choice vanilla, eaten straight from the carton. It wouldn’t be bad. With an uncomfortable pop, he pulled out of her and lay beside her, breathing hard. It was 11.52pm. She wondered if the Shop’n’Save would even be open.