Category: Uncategorized
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Revelations, Renovations, and Cold Hard Cash
Hello, Dear Chum, As you may have noticed, we’ve had a submissions makeover. Eyes up here, please. Yes, we’ve been changing some things. For one thing, we’re now accepting submissions through Submittable. For another, we’re now a paying market. Actually, 2025 marks our third year awarding the Dead Herring Prize to writing that slays real…
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A Conversation with Mary Collins
Jim: The river has always been my happy place. Any river. Anywhere. However, one specific region always comes to mind: the Dora, MO area, where there are as many watering holes as names in the phonebook. I was fortunate enough to call Dora “home” for a number of years. Mary and I were even neighbors…
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“Portages” by Rebecca Callahan
They portaged into the Minnesota wilderness for six hours that day. They carried the heavy canoe through the narrow, wooded trails, sometimes a mile or more, until they could put it into the water again. Each time they came to another portage, where shallow rapids flowed over exposed rocks, they climbed out of the canoe…
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“River” by Peter Cashorali
The final piece is our dying. Not hurried to or gotten through, Not flinched from though if so That’s part of it too. As if the end of the river Wasn’t a falls or an ocean But the entire river, A single word of everything, Seen and read and taken in. As if it was…
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“The Creek in Winter” by Mary Ellen Shaughan
She places one foot down, then the other, gleaming blades meet glistening ice. After a few tentative strides, she stretches her legs, then pushes, soon finding her rhythm, propelling her forward, away from the creek’s bank where tufts of brown grass tremble, following the meandering path as it bisects snow-covered fields. Her blades chatter over…
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A Texas Gulf Coast Baptism
is a momentous affair. Veneration drives steaming bodies into revelrous, unsurvivable throngs. Humidity compounds, heat makes us suffer, and wind-whipped children play house on the sand. I’ve walked all the way here with a bag in my pocket to collect washed up trash: bottle caps, fishing line, wedding rings. A baby cries and it sounds…
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A CONVERSATION WITH MARCUS CAFAGÑA
Poet extraordinaire and all-around good guy, Marcus Cafagña, has seen his poetry published in hundreds of magazines across the country, including AGNI, Witness, Poetry Magazine, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, and on and on and on. His first book, The Broken World, was selected for the National Poetry Series. In a review of The Broken World,…
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“Chipmunk Summer” by Ed Ahern
Chipmunks have reentered my stone walls and flitter-twitch across the open grass guessing that a thing as grossly large as me cannot be a healthy coexistence. They dart into the spaces between rocks, suspicious little sentinels intent on their anonymity. I could with time and guile persuade them to take peanuts from my fingers, but…
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Announcing the Winner of the 2024 Dead Herring Prize
Ho ho ho-ly mackerel, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Gridlock as far as the eye can see. The smell of burning money in the air. There’s a negativity scene at every grocery store. A baby in a manager. Yuletide insults being slung by a guy dressed like he just left the gym.…
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That Which
Dear Writer, Today I am reminded why we write and that the how of it is irrelevant when it comes to doing the deed. Sure, there are a great many qualities effective works do and do not possess (most of which we all tend to agree on), but it’s worth remembering first and foremost that…
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“Woodstove” by Nicole Chvatal Poem
The methodology for his laundrystill makes me laugh and cringe and laugh againthat I am no longer faced with the moundsof heavy denim, wool river driverswith seed-sized burn holes and necklines fraying,air-drying from every door jamb like longbeans on the vine, even during summerthe fire going. First I ate it uplike caterpillar, what are these…
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Jon Zawislak: An Interview with the assistant professor of Apiculture and Urban Entomology
FEATURED IN SKIPJACK REVIEW, ISSUE #2 For this special, Bugs-themed issue of Skipjack Review, we set out on a quest to have a heart to heart with an Ozarks entomology expert. But where to start? We’re happy to report that there are a surprisingly many incredible humans up to some fascinating and niche studies and…
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“Late September” by Paulette Guerin
The last cicada is sputtering out.Probably a male calling for a mateas autumn moves in. The buzz starts and stopsand pushes forward like an old crank car.This year, no tidal wave of cicada songas in the summers of my childhood.This year, no water and only suburb grass.The dragonflies have died and the mosquitoes with them.Then…
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#amwriting #reachingintothevoid
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Most of the time, good writing is a total accident. Don’t get me wrong, if you show up and put in the work, no matter what you’re working toward, good things are going to happen. And, yes, as George Saunders suggests, the more we write…
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Ope Here!
Ope here, Holy mackerel! Make it stop! By all means, don’t stop sending submissions, but, please, no more bugs! We’ve got bugs coming out of our ears. Big bugs. Little bugs. Burrowing bugs. Flying bugs. Stinging bugs. Singing bugs… But more on that soon! We’re now reading for Issue 3 (no theme) and will soon…
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Call for Submissions: Ozarks Rivers and Lakes Essays
The only thing richer than the history and folklore of the Ozarks is the soil beneath its people’s feet. The region’s lush splendor is with special thanks to its many rivers and lakes, wonders of nature which make this little corner of the world an attractive and one-of-a-kind place to call home for all walks…
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Announcing Our Pushcart Prize Nominations
Ope here, Get in here! Come on in, you’ll catch a cold! Close the door behind you. Have a sit! Take a seat. Gosh, it’s been a while, huh? We have a lot of catchin’ up to do, you and me. A lot’s been happenin’ at Skipjack camp. Have you seen Issue 1? Darn purdy,…
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The Pouting Trout Life Jacket
Good morning and good day, you pretty, shining fishes and creatures. Behold: the sun rises with healing in its wings. Breathe deep and ascend! Meet these promises of chance—yours, now. Do you see? Horace Formerly the Tortoise asks: Greetings, Pouting Trout. Do you have time for a fish story? Most fishes don’t believe me when…
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Ope Here: A Call for Submissions!
Ope Here, Much as we’ll miss summer and the flood of excellent submissions we keep receivin’, here at the Skipjack camp, we’re now closed to submissions for Issue I. We’re movin’ on! Change is in the air! We’re excited for fall. The dog days of summer are dwindling down to a soft whine and autumn…
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Ope Here: The Dead Herring Prize
Ope here, Holy mackerel, it’s July! I just don’t believe it. Where does the time go? Makes me wonder. You know, I spend a lot of my time wonderin’. And, you know what else? It seems like, the more I wonder, the less I know. Ain’t that funny? Not ha-ha funny, you know,…
the water and the gills 