Events

How do we balance out spiritual optimism vs. spiritual pessimism? How do Friends in the 2020s look at the future?

For much of recorded history, the kitchen has been the center—the heart—of the home. Food can bring people together or tear them apart. Important conversations happen around the kitchen table, kids learn self-sufficiency, and traditions begin in this space.

Faʻafafine (translated: “in the manner of a woman”) are natal males who align with a third gender or gender role in Samoa. Gender serves as the naturalized pathway to normalcy, a position of dominance, or a source of existential angst and never-ending struggles for recognition – depending on where in the myriad, multi-layered hierarchies we find ourselves.       

We are looking for gothic poems ranging from the horrifying to the hilarious, from the uncanny to the atmospheric. We are also interested in other poems appropriate to the season and its holidays: autumn, Hallowtide, Dia De Los Meurtos.

Submissions must explore new or expanded angles to the character of Achilles: have him follow alternative paths, present different viewpoints, give deeper background, or perhaps pursue story lines that are hinted at in the original tales and poetry.

The perfect cuppa joe. The nectar of the gods. The safety liquid you hand your partner in the morning. We love the stuff, and can’t get enough.

Love, fight, fear, hunt, tame or release it into the wild – Animal is the prompt for Issue 7. Please, no cruelty to animals…and, come to think of it, no wolves.

We want to know what the bassoonist is doing instead of showing up to perform.

Stories can be serious or humorous, or both. We can't wait to read all the heartwarming, inspirational, and hysterical stories you have about your cats.

Send us your writing that interrogates obfuscation, from without, and within.

The Fame issue will explore all the fabulous, fascinating, and sometimes Faustian facets of rising in reputation and renown.

Please use your boundless, limitless, imagination and give us a beautiful or startling or eerie prose poem, lyric essay, piece of creative nonfiction, or short work of fiction (any genre) having to do with the heaven(s) / sky.

We're open to reading the slyly speculative, the strange, the uncanny, and the weird.

Authors will retain all rights and copyright to their works. WestWord requests one-time, non-exclusive rights to publish your work.

At Audience Askew, we like the strange, quirky, and unique—aiming to find thought-provoking stories, engaging poetry, and distinctive artwork that doesn’t quite fit in anywhere else.