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Bryant Literary Review

The Bryant Literary Review is an international journal of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction housed in the History, Literature, and the Arts Department at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. Since our first issue in 2000, we have published original and thought-provoking creative work from a wide array of established authors and emerging voices. We see our purpose to be the cultivation of an active and growing connection between the Bryant University campus community and the larger literary culture.

Current Volume: Volume 25 (2024)

Editor's Note

The Tortured Poets Department is the title of Taylor Swift’s next album, and the irony is not lost on me. Or for that matter on any faculty member of a college Humanities department these days. In the face of gale-force headwinds, Humanities programs around the country are dealing with shrinking enrollments and dwindling budgets. Literary journals spring up & then die. They come and go with the seasons, rarely lasting more than a couple of years. I started the Bryant Literary Review back at the turn of the millennium. The fact that it has thrived for a full quarter of a century is simply astonishing. Congratulations! ---Here’s to 25 more years!

On one particular day when I taught at Bryant, I was having a tough time starting up discussion and so said to my class “OK, I’m just going to step outside, then come back in and we’ll begin all over again fresh.” Exasperated, I closed the door behind me, only to hear it click shut and lock me out in the corridor. Is there a metaphor here? Probably not, but when my students let me back in the room, our talk was lively, because the ice was now broken—and because, given the opportunity, people really are actually, truly interested in trading stories about human situations, their stories, the Humanities.

In this 25th Anniversary Edition, you will find carefully curated work that has been culled from hundreds of submissions from around the planet. These poets (and fiction writers) may or may not feel tortured, but they are all talented. Find a comfortable chair and some good reading light. Then turn down the outside world for a while. I promise you will be glad.

Tom Chandler
Tortured Poet Emeritus

Title Page

Table of Contents

Editors' Note

PDF

Editor's Note
Tom Chandler

Contributors

Fiction

PDF

Black Cherry
Daria Rose

PDF

Leftovers
James Magruder

PDF

Suburban Guerilla
E.H. Jacobs

PDF

Almost There
Patricia Schultheis

PDF

He is Mine
Summer Hammond

PDF

Mr. Truhart
Amy Clements

PDF

Roadside Memorials
Karen Guzman

Poetry

PDF

Old Man
Joshua Kulseth

PDF

Concrete
Joshua Kulseth

PDF

At the Stockyard
Joshua Kulseth

PDF

Standards
Eleanor Eli Moss

PDF

Don't Make Me Destroy You
Eleanor Eli Moss

PDF

vigil
Brenda Beardsley

PDF

the swallows
Brenda Beardsley

PDF

Somedays Barbie
Rikki Santer

PDF

Givers
Anna Elkins

PDF

the field excerpt
Sara Slingerland Sheiner

Creative Nonfiction

Editors

Editor
Tom Roach
Poetry Editor
Eric Paul
Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Editor
Tom Roach
Student Fiction Editors
Audrey Jones (Class of 2024), Olivia Soffey (Class of 2026)
Student Poetry Editors
Sarah Lostowski (Class of 2025), Christy Mak (Class of 2025)
Managing Editors
Rebecca Marcus and Adriana Minacapilli

Additional Information

Design & Layout
Rebecca Chandler
beccachandler67@gmail.com

Cover Art
“Speechless” by Liam Dubeau (Class of 2026)