Summer 2004

Featured Fiction
Counterbalance
By Peggy Duffy

Weighted by umbrella, blanket tucked beneath his armpit, he follows her along the beach, bare feet blistering in the noon-baked sand. She zigzags empty-handed up and down the shoreline, looking for the right spot. There is no perfect spot, he wants to tell her, but before he can she waves her arms in signal to him. He throws down the umbrella and spreads the blanket at her feet. The wind blowing off the ocean undoes his efforts. She shoots him a look, renewing his incompetence...More

My oldest brother used to tell me that if I sucked on a sand dollar, every dream I wished for would come true. He would tell me time and time again, through the years, and always brought it up during my saddest times. Whenever he would see me in a corner, laying face first on my bed, or sitting out in the dark on our porch overlooking Casco Bay, he would come behind me and whisper in my ear. "Suck on a sand dollar and you'll be ok." "Suck on a sand dollar and fix it yourself." When I was five, he told me that whenever the sun set, ten people died. On my eighth birthday, he said that going to church on Sundays actually would lead us all to hell...More

Featured Poetry
Pristine Emancipation
By Emily J. Favilla

On paper i'm a solider
i'm a mother, i'm a fish,
your intrusive muscle spasm
just as you consent to fall asleep;
an LSD-induced delirium,
your phobia of ordinarily
ordinary
household kitchen applications
and floating mannequins in the closet...More

Quotable: August 15-31. (From Tina)

"On one occasion a man, who invariably sent me a letter after we had spent the night together, declared that he saw no point in our relationship and that he had nothing more to say to me. There was no word from him the next day. 'When dawn appeared' without the usual next morning letter, I could not help feeling rather gloomy. 'Well,' I thought as the day advanced, 'he really meant what he says.'

It rained very hard on the day after that. Noon came and still I had heard nothing from him: obviously he had forgotten all about me. Then in the evening, while I was sitting on the edge of the veranda, a child arrived with an open umbrella in one hand and a letter in the other. I opened the letter and read it with more than usual haste. 'The rain that swells the water' was the message, and I found this more charming than if he had sent me a whole sheaf of poems."

- Translated by Ivan Morris, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

If you'd like a free Portable Muse
sticker, send a self-addressed stamped
envelope to:

The Portable Muse
c/o Stanley Tam
500 East 12th Street
#7
New York, NY 10009

Editor's Note: Apologies once again for being late with the issue. Let it be known Armand is doing his part and calling me to keep me on my toes. We have done some cleanup and should be much more efficient with getting the magazine out on time for the next issue. Art and Photography sections: We've put off putting up new work since the last issue because of the lack of submissions but we will definitely be putting up both a new artist feature and photography feature for the Fall issue. And although we're primarily a growing lit. zine, we don't want our Art sections to fall off entirely. At the same time, we're hoping to keep the same standard for Art and Photo that we have through the past year or two...I've recieved a lot of emails in regard to the Fiction and Poetry workshops going on in NYC. Hopefully some of you have gotten involved with Alicia and Lynette's workshops. On the savvy women book reading club front, Emily and Brigitte have started the Williamsburg Social, a book reading club that meets every few weeks to discuss certain contemporary works. Do email: Bklynsocial@aol.com for more information...Keep in mind, the next two months are an important time in regard to projects and creative to dos. MFA applications, theatre deadlines, and many contests/grants/fellowships are right around the corner. Start thinking about them now or you'll end up missing out. The Foundation Center has a wonderfully updated list of grants and sponsors. If you are in the city, it would be a good idea to spend an afternoon looking up some possible grants on file. The staff on hand are ridiculously helpful. You'll forget you're in the city...For now, the Poetry Editor duties are falling on Sylvia Edmond's hands. Until we can find a way to pay for someone, she'll be working on it for free (1,000 thank yous)...Give love to our very own Chinedum Osuji reppin' Beantown and his home country Trinidad & Tobago in the Olympics...The Fringe Festival has arrived in NYC so get out and support local theatre...Fall Issue coming in October...

And remember, we now are paying for our featured writing sections (Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry. $25.00 for each featured story). Submit now!!!

Email us with any questions or comments as always and we look forward to the many new projects thrown our way.

-Stanley Tam, Editor
stanley@portablemuse.com
submissions@portablemuse.com