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Words are all we have.

34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 003
The glimpses that we have of the intensely private Beckett from his friends reveal a man, a writer, driven by his commitment to words, not just any words, but words stripped bare, edited, and reduced, as if by doing this he could remove every inconsequential modifier and reveal meaning in its simplest form, the most direct form, without embellishment, without fluff.

YAWN HATES ME BY SE DIAMOND 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 03

Jan hates me. He has thin blond hair tied into a ponytail, and his name is pronounced yawn—not like the American girl’s name Jan. Our Czech Foreign Relations class has just ended and it’s Friday. “Na Sled, Jan.” I smile and suck in my cheeks as I say good day to him. Come on Janny, like me. I just want your country to like me.

For her 80th birthday, we gave Grandma Rena an oxygen tank.

THE DANGER YOU KNOW BY GEOFF KIRSCH 34TH PARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 03
Isn’t there something else, like a porch swing or the Abbot & Costello library on VHS?

YESTERDAY BY ASHLIEGH GEHL 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 03

I can no longer place us anywhere but here.

MOVING BY MATT MULLINS 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 03
I see how this life has built itself up around us, somehow grown into the shape of a house where we sit on the porch watching storms.

Sink into your mat like it’s quicksand.

OF QUICKSAND MATS AND PEACEFUL MEDITATION BY ASHLEY COWGER 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 03
Natalie stifled a chortle. Here was this tranquil voice telling her to let her body sink into quicksand, being swallowed alive, without a fight. She tried to picture the mat as quicksand, containing her and forcing her body into complete immobility, but it seemed ludicrous. It was a mat, inside a room, inside a gym.

Little about Zihua was as expected.

ON HOLD IN ZIHUA BY STEVE HICKS 34TH PARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 03

He had asked his travel agent to set up his vacation in Zihuatanejo because he was a fan of the scene with Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption. Zihua reminded him not at all of that movie. In fact, little about Zihua was as expected.