There’s a woman in town who performs healing with a net. I pay to watch the show, front row, metal folding chair creaking in the spring grass, half-brown, half-waking. She sets the scene like a traveling circus— a communion of strangers searching for something together at the edge of the woods—bodies watching body brave contortion,…
When we were freshmen you told me all the cool kids take flowers out to Carrie White’s grave on the night of prom. (The grave belonged to some poor woman named Carolyn White, but it was close enough.) Senior year I ordered a bouquet just like Sue’s from the movie: red carnations, yellow daisies, baby’s…
The ultimatum that Will’s fiancé, Leslie, had given him wasn’t sincere, and he knew this. Really, it was more of a nudge, an encouragement to push past whatever the fuck it was which rendered him incapable of accomplishing such a rudimentary task. Shit, even small children with their limitless imaginations and even grander terrors have…
The oldest of the King boys became a kind of murderer, but most people weren’t surprised. We grew up on the Texas coast, roaming beaches and loping through waist deep saltwater—shooting birds or gigging fish, playing with death the way students fidget a pencil. We went to the same school but weren’t friends. I always…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Brian-Allen-Carr_Banner-2.jpeg350824Brian Allen Carrhttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngBrian Allen Carr2025-02-20 01:00:092025-02-20 09:12:27The Oldest King of the Coast
“I want something from her, but I don’t know what it is. I guess that means sex.” – Joey Comeau, “Patricia” The other night one of the women asked the rest of us, “Have you ever had a crush on a character in a book?” I have not. I know some people have crushes on…
(An excerpt from the novel The Organization is Here to Support You, forthcoming from Weirdpunk) We live and work in the units, and the office people live and work in the office. It used to be that when it was time for the members to come evaluate applications, we would all go to the office…
https://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Charelene-Elsby-Banner.jpeg350824Charlene Elsbyhttps://poolpartymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/pp-logo-500.pngCharlene Elsby2025-02-13 01:00:392025-02-11 14:53:39The Organization is Here to Support You
Kate wants to go to the mall. In the last few weeks, we’ve gone to the Botanical Gardens and to the Waterfront and to a baseball game and on a hike in the mountains and on a tour of the old high school where that one movie was filmed and to the farmers market, and…
The Mystic Pigman is barely special. No clear eyewitness accounts, no police record. The story is he killed one woman while wearing a pig’s head and then escaped capture. We weren’t even sure if pig’s head meant rubber mask or hollowed-out flesh. It was all very 1970’s horror movie. Erica said it was a boring…
The Bee Charmer
by Lauren Mantis//| PoemsThere’s a woman in town who performs healing with a net. I pay to watch the show, front row, metal folding chair creaking in the spring grass, half-brown, half-waking. She sets the scene like a traveling circus— a communion of strangers searching for something together at the edge of the woods—bodies watching body brave contortion,…
Ben Wiley Burns in Hell
by Jan Stinchcomb//| FictionWhen we were freshmen you told me all the cool kids take flowers out to Carrie White’s grave on the night of prom. (The grave belonged to some poor woman named Carolyn White, but it was close enough.) Senior year I ordered a bouquet just like Sue’s from the movie: red carnations, yellow daisies, baby’s…
Like a Tsunami Barreling Toward the Shore
by D.T. Robbins//| FictionThe ultimatum that Will’s fiancé, Leslie, had given him wasn’t sincere, and he knew this. Really, it was more of a nudge, an encouragement to push past whatever the fuck it was which rendered him incapable of accomplishing such a rudimentary task. Shit, even small children with their limitless imaginations and even grander terrors have…
The Oldest King of the Coast
by Brian Allen Carr//| FictionThe oldest of the King boys became a kind of murderer, but most people weren’t surprised. We grew up on the Texas coast, roaming beaches and loping through waist deep saltwater—shooting birds or gigging fish, playing with death the way students fidget a pencil. We went to the same school but weren’t friends. I always…
Cante Jondo
by Lauren Lavín//| Essays“I want something from her, but I don’t know what it is. I guess that means sex.” – Joey Comeau, “Patricia” The other night one of the women asked the rest of us, “Have you ever had a crush on a character in a book?” I have not. I know some people have crushes on…
The Organization is Here to Support You
by Charlene Elsby//| Fiction(An excerpt from the novel The Organization is Here to Support You, forthcoming from Weirdpunk) We live and work in the units, and the office people live and work in the office. It used to be that when it was time for the members to come evaluate applications, we would all go to the office…
The Mall
by Aaron Burch//| FictionKate wants to go to the mall. In the last few weeks, we’ve gone to the Botanical Gardens and to the Waterfront and to a baseball game and on a hike in the mountains and on a tour of the old high school where that one movie was filmed and to the farmers market, and…
Cryptid Summer
by Emily Costa//| FictionThe Mystic Pigman is barely special. No clear eyewitness accounts, no police record. The story is he killed one woman while wearing a pig’s head and then escaped capture. We weren’t even sure if pig’s head meant rubber mask or hollowed-out flesh. It was all very 1970’s horror movie. Erica said it was a boring…