Fortnight Literary Press

M. Spaeth: Exquisite Corpse

Fortnight Literary Press — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:51:24 +0000

I stand with ripples
in the palm of my hand

Instructions: Comment on this post to add a few lines of your own to contribute to the poem. You can comment as few or as many times as you would like – whatever you prefer. When somebody feels that the poem has reached a good stopping place, then that person can end the poem by posting a comment that says “(end)”. By the end of the week, we will have produced a complete poem that is varied, interesting, and compelling.

There’s no pressure – the comments will not be subject to the submission process for our print issues. This is an open forum for a poetic conversation – and we want YOU to participate!

P. Lester: Books with Lives of Their Own

Fortnight Literary Press — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:06:08 +0000

What happens in a bookstore after it closes:

Vol. 3, Issue 1

Fortnight Literary Press — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:10:53 +0000

Cheers to the prospect of spending the holidays cozying up with this beautiful new issue of Fortnight! Paper copies have made their journeys across the college campus, humbly filling racks and awaiting new homes. This one comes with one tin can of beans, an elegantly draped coat, and a carefully set spring-loaded mousetrap.

Remember to continue submitting your poetry, prose, and artwork to us!

Warmth and scarves,
The Fortnight Staff

« Read the whole issue »

N. Nuechterlein: Interviews

Fortnight Literary Press — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 19:41:02 +0000

Interviews with the people who got famous for the way they said things, 1950 and on: http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews

Letter from the Editors

Fortnight Literary Press — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:08:23 +0000

Dear readers, writers, all idealists, cynics (and those in between and simultaneously neither and both), uncommitted wayfarers, and accidental guests,

The summer solstice was June 21st at 17:16, and since then Fortnight has seen a myriad of things — things that can only be accounted for by the stretching hours of daylight, bare limbs brushing the wind, the watery black tar mirages that, in the height of summer, accompanies roads meeting their vanishing points, and of course, the abandoned molts of cicadas dispersed on the planet. These things have been indelibly noted, stored, and allowed to ferment for 1.877 x 10^3 hours, during which, astonishing connections have been made and the act of forgetting has allowed fiction and wonder to seep through and invoke an entirely different beast.

We at Fortnight are humbly inviting you to scrawl these images and strings of words, feeling, color, numbers, textures into a piece that, in its literary and/or visual form, might with greater odds be accessible to the rest of the world. We are currently accepting submissions for our October 2011 issue, and would very much love for you to share with us anything you might have tucked away on a harddrive or is cycling quietly through your memories. In fact, we are publishing monthly from this very instant through to April, so should a constant stream of documentation and invention be your blessing and curse, submit weekly, daily, hourly*!

Additionally, for any students on campus interested in joining Fortnight for the 2011-2012 year, we welcome you to attend our mass meeting on Monday, September 12th at 7pm. We will be located in 3222 Angell Hall, where snacks and refreshments will be provided. Fortnight’s first meeting, in which staff introductions and orders of business will be conducted, is on Sunday, September 18th at 4pm in the basement of Ambrosia cafe (326 Maynard Street). We hope to see you soon!

Your Fortnight Editors

*Perhaps not hourly. Hyperbole intended to promote deeper sense of excitement.

The Staff Issue

Fortnight Literary Press — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:12:18 +0000

Happy end of the school year to all University of Michigan students. While you are either celebrating the end of the year or stressing out over the exams, papers, and trauma that accompany this happy time, the Fortnight staff was working away to bring you some of the best stuff they have written and drawn. Don’t believe me? Take a look at our final issue, our magnum opus, our pièce de résistance: The Staff Issue.

« Read the whole issue »

H. Bicknell: Citrus Paradisi

Fortnight Literary Press — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:09:35 +0000

I saw a single grapefruit (citrus paradisi) hanging off of a small tree in the temperate room at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens the other weekend and paused despite the abundance of more exotic specimens because, well, I’d never actually seen a grapefruit on a tree before. This particular tree was so spindly, and the fruit so fat that I wondered at the branch’s ability to support and the fruit’s ability to hold on. I proceeded, of course, to write a poem about the Garden of Eden, after which I felt a very pressing need to study botany. This seemed like a perfect plan, as learning Latin names and plant particulars could do nothing but feed my poetry and I’m still in need of three more natural science credits. Once back in the cubicle I call home, I proceeded to investigate the LSA Course Guide with a feeling of hope that picking out classes from a list does not always inspire. Of course, like almost everything worth taking at the university, I could not so much as dream of touching a plant without taking a slew of introductory courses. Even though I am not completely averse to discussing phenotypes and drawing Punnett squares, doing so purely as a means to eventually satisfy my botanical need seemed an unjustifiable use of time and tuition dollars.

The other night in the reading room at the UGLi, I sat down in a corner with a grammar book to do some research for a paper when, looking up, I found myself surrounded by botanical journals. The most interesting cover was filled with photographs of colorful, phallic-looking flowers, though I couldn’t maneuver the journal well enough to discover what they were (funky varieties of calla lilies (?)). I picked up a plain green journal titled Phytomorphology and began to read an abstract of a study that had something to do with proteins and soybeans… and quickly lost interest. I realized that a discussion of inhibiting something-or-others was probably closer to what studying plants would be like than my fantasies involving Herbology classes of the Harry Potter variety. This did not stop me from promptly writing a poem entitled “Phytomorphology,” but it did help me to realize that what I was really interested in (plant names, uses, habitats, etc.) is for the most part already tucked safely away in field guides and books and that, while I am interested in learning what is knew to me, this is not the same thing as learning what is new to the plant sciences. I really just want to read about thistle and cacti and to maybe plant some sugar snap peas. If my first collection of poems sounds like it was written by a hypercritical farmer or Laura Ingalls Wilder, at least some of you will know why.

(*Matthaei Botanical Gardens provides free admission for students—just bring your Mcard)

A. Fang: A Disturbing Recipe

Fortnight Literary Press — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:09:30 +0000

Serving: 1

Ingredients:
- a beautiful virgin of noble birth
- a gibbet
- iron instruments
- an oven
- a knife

Directions:
Step One:
If you are from a noble family, make sure you check on virgin maiden relatives to see if they secretly worship God / Christianity. Note that due to the typical portrayal of virgin-martyrs, the selected maiden must be of noble birth, a virgin, and beautiful. This step is critical to the making of a good virgin-martyr.

Step Two:
In order to make virgin-martyrs the ultimate symbol of virginity and God’s power, the selected virgin has to be tortured in many inhumane ways. This recipe provides three examples of acceptable torture:

Hang the virgin on the prepared gibbet. Disregard her prayers and make good use of the iron instruments to tear at her body. Remember, the bloodier the better.
Usually, the virgin suffers more than one torture. Another possible way is to put the virgin inside an over and bake her continuously for at least three days. It is important to bake for at least three days because previous virgin-martyrs have proven that three days do no damage. Remember to train the guards to disregard any unusual voices such as singing or praying from the virgin.
Another common method of torture is to remove the virgin’s breasts. This act functions as a mean to dehumanize and de-feminize the virgins.

Step Three:
Repeat Step Two or modifications of Step Two until the virgin dies. If all fails, it is also common to decapitate the virgin.

Step Four:
Congratulations! You just made a virgin-martyr. Enjoy and bon appetit.

H. Keusch: Snippets of Whitman

Fortnight Literary Press — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:41:54 +0000

Please awe over these snippets from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and feel free to sigh dejectedly because you can’t write stuff like it.

“Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me,
If I could not now and always send sunrise out of me.“

“Storming, enjoying, planning, loving, cautioning,
Breaking and filling, appearing and disappearing,
I tread day and night such roads.“

“Out of the dimness opposite equals advance… Always substance and increase,
Always a knit of identity…always distinction…always a breed of life.
To elaborate is no avail… Learned and unlearned feel that it is so.”

“Clear and sweet is my soul…and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.
Lack one lacks both…and the unseen is proved by the seen,
Till that becomes seen and receives proof in its turn.“

“Swiftly arose and spread around me all the peace and joy and knowledge that pass all the art and argument of the earth.“

“And I know I am solid and sound,
To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.
I know I am august,
I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or to be understood,
I see that the elementary laws never apologize“

“I am the poet of the body,
And I am the poet of the soul.
The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell are with me,
The first I graft and increase upon myself…the latter I translate into a new tongue.“

“Long have you dreamed contemptible dreams…
You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life.“

Double Issue!

Fortnight Literary Press — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:49:04 +0000

It has been a long time since we’ve published an issue. But, we have a good reason. We have a special issue which is better than any past issue. We combined two issues into one amazing, giant collection of poetry, prose, art, and stapled paper. It’s complicated, so enjoy our latest offerings. Also, fun fact: if you look up the word “double” on Google, you get a bunch of results related to firearms and rainbows. The internet is weird.

« Read the whole issue »