LSD & Zen by Rue Matthiessen

LSD & Zen by Rue Matthiessen

In 2010, I went with my father to a memorial service at St. Annes, in Bridgehampton. I noticed how confidently he sang the hymns, knowing every cadence, every word. For him they were second nature. I was touched by the quaintness of this. Before, I had only seen him...

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A Lil Sumthin’ by Jennifer Keith

A Lil Sumthin’ by Jennifer Keith

The trapper takes $475 to get squirrels out of our attic.It's the first summer of the pandemic, and the squirrels have invaded the roof above the second floor through a gap the soffit. I've heard them running back and forth in the ceiling for days. I look for a...

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The Suitcase by Steve Denehan

The Suitcase by Steve Denehan

At the end of our road was a streambeside the stream ran a paththat became dirt and lonelyif followed we were especially aimlessone dull summer daywalking the pathfurther than we had walked before until we came upon a suitcasesitting in the middle of the pathas though...

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Will I Forget — by Evalyn Lee

Will I Forget — by Evalyn Lee

It is your birthday, my birthday, your name,my name, you, my everloving, whatsyourname? Is it inevitable, will I say, as you do, as your motherdid, it is so terrible of me, can you believe it, I forgot it was his birthday? Then, will someone you love,or I love, or he...

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Why Does This Not Seem Beautiful?

Why Does This Not Seem Beautiful?

Because it aches, you say, and the ache is weighty,weighed down, wings stuck in mud. And not just any mud, but mud of late winter, when the film of ice stillfastens and fetters - this something that doesn't seem beautiful. But gorgeous, yes? That sunlit field...

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Editor’s Swing: Free State Review 15

Editor’s Swing: Free State Review 15

In Youngstown, Ohio, and Austin, Texas, and Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and Wachapreague, VA, and Southwest Harbor, Maine—most places I’ve learned the zip codes to this year— people ask me, “What is totally limited omniscience?” And sure, I could say, an aught band from...

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Victoria Corchada Menendez

Victoria Corchada Menendez

Joan Miro was well known for saying he'd spent 90 years trying to paint like a child. At one of our recent launches at the Tap Room in Aiken featuring Julia Wendell and Evelyn Berry, Victoria Corchada Menendez, age 6, made the decision to become a poet and to...

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Burn by Chloe Chun Seim

Burn by Chloe Chun Seim

Saturday morning. Hours before you’re due for your sister’s college volleyball game, before either you or your mother shuffle out of bed and greet the mildew and cigarette smoke layering your apartment. The doorbell comes to you first as a wren’s warble in your dream...

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About Me

Free State Review is a literary journal that comes out every 8 months. Want to know what we're into? Peruse our site and/or order a copy, then hit us up!

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