Leaning into the Apocalypse

 kw: story reviews, anthologies, literature, fiction, poetry, essays

The eight items I read today in 2024 Pushcart Prize XLVIII: Best of the Small Presses, edited by Bill Henderson and others, are evenly matched, four in verse and four stories/essays (sometimes it's hard to tell the difference). I'll touch on most of them.

"Memorials" by Tyler Sones – Remembering the localized apocalypses in the author's memory, one near Waco, Texas and the other at Ruby Ridge, in Idaho. The word "apocalypse" just means "taking off the cover", and by extension "revelation". It is, by itself, the title of the last book of the Bible. The content of the apostle John's visions has colored our understanding of the term. The author describes a fiercely Bible-centered culture in which the two attacked homesteads were embedded.

The image was produced using Playground AI; a milder view than what is warranted by the text, but a more appropriate prompt would have been rejected.

The verse "Dawn 2040" by Jorie Graham is intended to evoke a post-apocalyptic scene, set just sixteen years in the future (perhaps 17-18 when the piece was written). Overblown, in my view.

"Fight Week" by Laura Van Den Berg – A young woman, a prize fighter, is drawn into a drama and inadvertently does a good deed. It leads to a step change in her fighting skills.

I'll limn three other pieces with the two words that came to mind as I finished each:

• "Nomad Palindrome" – Extended palindrome. [At 87 words, one of the longest I've encountered]
• "Jorie, Jr" by Michael Czyzniejewski – Superman metaphor. [there's no relationship with the author of "Dawn 2040"...I think]
• "The Emperor Concerto" by Julie Hecht – Musical rumination.