Heather, this water cures nothing—
but your grandfather drove here
years ago to fetch mason jars
full of cool, eggy water for his wife,
her tuberculosis. I smelled her
on his flannel shirt. I perched
on a dead sweet gum limb.
When she coughed, she sprayed
their only sheets with blood.

In a decade, so sick he’d stay
in the car while your mama, pigtailed,
filled the jars, screwed the lids tight.
She swished her hands clean in
the rocky, green-edged basin
beneath the spout of the spring.
Dead dragonflies spun like pinwheels
in the creek’s cold mouth.

I smelled him dying, weeks later,
in bed, the flannel sheets pilled from
the pained back and forth rub of his feet,
still begging to drink from the spring,
the last cigarette turning his throat to ash.

When you finally come here, Heather,
it’s summer. You scream at horseflies
thick as your thumb, their hard bodies
slapping your arm as they dart past,
their papery wings and terrible buzz.

The dying are drawn to the siren spring.
Drink and die, it says, a lovely death,
a fox shot just as he cracks a duck egg
in his mouth, the liquid yolk his last ecstasy.
Go ahead, break an egg in your mouth.
Drink the water.
What is the carrion in you, Heather?
What sick meat could I swallow,
sulfur soaked through to the bone?

Heather Foster
Birth Date: January 20, 1985
Hometown: Sardis, TN (population: 250)
Website: heatherfoster.org

Name a few of your favorite writers. How have they influenced your work?

I’ll try to narrow it down here. I’ve studied and continue to learn objective correlative from James Wright, psychological imperative of rhythm from Li-Young Lee, musicality from Sylvia Plath, wild abandon from Anne Sexton, word choice from Elizabeth Bishop, and making forms modern from Carrie Jerrell.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Oh, everywhere! I live on a farm (144 acres) and I love being outside, so I get a lot of thinking and writing done there. I work with my hands (though for me it’s mostly supplemental, or even recreational), and I was raised by people who worked with their hands for a living. My grandfather and uncles are farmers. My brother’s a pipeline welder. I still remember from my childhood the feel of a piglet’s two hind legs in my grip—I had to catch them so my grandfather could immunize and castrate them. As a result of all of that, I think a lot of my poems show my relationship to the earth, or at least to the visceral, the tangible experience.

What are some of your favorite books? Why?

Some of my favorite classics are Nabokov’s Lolita for its impossibly gorgeous language and treatment of the taboo, O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find for its effortless Southern brilliance and character development, and Plath’s Ariel for its unparalleled intensity, beautiful music, tenderness, and its feeling of hyperconsciousness, like being at the edge of a precipice. More recently, I’ve been reading The Stories of Richard Bausch for what must be the millionth time, and Erica Dawson’s Big-Eyed Afraid, which is full to the brim with energy and is a masterfully modern display of received and nonce forms. She’s someone who’s relatively new on my radar. I’ve only been reading her work for a year or so, but she blows my mind.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote stories as a kid. I remember once in junior high, a girl stole my boyfriend, so I made her a character in a horror story and killed her off in the first scene. But I didn’t get serious about writing until my 3^rd year as an undergrad. I was a pre-med biology major, and during one semester I happened to spend some time writing, really for the first time as an adult, and it lit a fire in me. Within a couple months, I changed my major and sold my soul to poetry. Fiction is my dirty mistress.

Where can we find some of your work?

My poems and stories are currently featured in Anderbo, Monkeybicycle, Moonshot Magazine, Country Dog Review, PANK, Superstition Review, and damselfly. I have some more stuff forthcoming from Lumberyard, Cutthroat, failbetter.com, and others. There’s info on my website. I try to keep it current.

Every day, Heather Foster resists the urge to hit people at the grocery store where she works as a night supervisor to pay her way through Murray State’s MFA program. She has three goals in life: raise her boys right, write stuff worth reading, and get in Dwight Yoakam’s pants. 

Now available in stores and online »

                              — Phillip Roth

It isn’t hard to see that today’s “dying art” is, well, art.  Books are being read electronically.  Paintings can be viewed online on crystal clear 1080p screens.  Music is sold without a package or simply taken for free off any number of sites.  The tactile experience of seeing, feeling, and interpreting art has been lost in an endless barrage of entertainment.  People used to read books to travel to places they had no way of visiting.  They used to see one-of-a-kind paintings and marvel at the subtlety that went into their creation.

Many people have written on these phenomena in recent years and how technology has made so many things obsolete and so many more relevant that weren’t before.  As an aspiring writer of fiction, I have to admit that I often wish I was born thirty years ago.  Not because “things were better back then” and “people just aren’t the same nowadays” but because I might have been able to make a living writing books that didn’t involve a post-apocalyptic world, a wizard, a vampire, a zombie, or a woman who is not yet empowered going through the process of empowerment.  Call them the holy quintuplet of modern fiction if you like.

I don’t dislike any of these topics necessarily.  A certain wizard franchise might very well be my favorite book series and I am always interested in the hypothetical end of our world.  I would say that I have a difficult time understanding the broad appeal of all things vampire and zombie.  Do they just fill the void left behind by the black hole that was the end of Harry Potter?  If so, what mythical creature will take their places once we’ve grown tired of them?  (And please, please.  Let us grow tired quickly.)

I’m not jealous of their popularity either.  People can read whatever they want.  I always find that a strange argument whenever someone dislikes a popular thing.  I didn’t not like Avatar because of its overwhelming commercial success.  Avatar was like watching a special effects porno: you can say it looked amazing, but don’t pretend you watched it for the story.  So read vampires and zombies and anything else you like ad nauseam if you must.

Let’s take all of that as a given.  For those who love Literature with a capital, snobby L, who read Nabakov and Dostoevsky, Rushdie and Proust, and are always looking for  a new and exciting voice to teach them something new about life, let’s not kid ourselves and think things are any different than they currently are.  Back to our categories we go.

Each one of the book topics I outlined above has a specific hold on the adult and young adult fiction market.  Stories of female empowerment, or romance, have been big sellers for quite a long time, but it wasn’t until Oprah’s book club did everyone start buying the same ones.  However, this isn’t necessarily the phenomena I’d like to focus on.  The children, as they say, are our future.

The Harry Potter series has sold over 400 million books.  The Twilight series’ final book sold 1.3 million copies in one day!  All three of the Hunger Games novels are in most every best seller list as is the bundle of the three books together.  While I agree that it’s great to see kids enthusiastic towards reading, I find it odd that they are all reading the same things.  In every other facet of the technological world, diversity of entertainment has oversaturated the market.  Cable television and the internet killed the sitcom.  Networks no longer draw 20 million viewers like they did for Seinfeld and Friends.  A show like Mad Men on AMC draws 2.9 million viewers for its season four premiere and it’s considered a rousing success.  There are simply too many things to watch for everyone to be expected to watch the same things at the same times.

That’s why the success of Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games is such an oddity, though that success might be explained if examined a little closer. A book consumes us for such a drastic amount of time in comparison to any other form of entertainment we have that we almost feel as if we want to know that we won’t be disappointed with the experience beforehand.  It seems as if with books people are more inclined to stay as close to the fold as possible.  More than ever, in our new world of instant communication, the bandwagon thrives.  We want to see a movie because it gets a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  With so many things to occupy our time in modern society, who would want to take a choice on a book that might not be the most rewarding experience ever?

A lot of people would say that Harry Potter did great things for books.  The series got people reading, and I don’t think it’s very hard to argue against that.  A book, or series of books, can touch an emotional strain that a film never could.  We know this.  That’s not a new idea.  “I liked the book better than the movie.”  Everyone who reads the book first is disappointed by the movie, and yet most people watch the movie anyway.  It’s a matter of time.  Even when you hate a movie, you’ve only wasted a short amount of your valuable time consuming it.  The same can’t be said for a book.  The same definitely can’t be said for a series of books.  Therefore, people don’t like to take chances, and in that sense, it is more difficult to become a successful author, especially one who strays from the norm genre-wise, than pretty much ever before.  It is easier than ever to publish a new novel, in e-book form or otherwise, yet probably harder to get read. The modern aspiring author lives in a “cowardly new world.”

The world has and always will be like this.  It will be up to those who consider themselves artists to refrain from “guffawing” the changing times, a prideful act that will lead to their irrelevancy in the future.  You may have to write a series with vampire characteristics to garner a loyal audience before releasing what you hope to be the next great literary novel.  Is that any different than painters and sculptors working for popes and kings?

Let’s not kid ourselves; artists have always sold out.  The only thing that changes is the item being sold. Art will never again be what it used to be and never was that back then.  Art will always be dying.

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Ignacio Torres

Birth date: 23 August, 1988
Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Website: ignacio-torres.com

I am currently working on: several new projects.  Mostly finding a job.

My biggest influence: films I used to watch as a child.  I was a huge fan of Tim Burton.
My muse: changes all the time.

Favorite book: Battle Royale by Koshun Takami
Favorite animal: Wolves.  They are beautiful creatures.
Favorite artist: Hedi Slimane
Favorite movie: E.T. The Extraterrestrial.  Makes me cry every time.

My biggest pet peeve: People who snore.
I’m deathly afraid of: BIRDS!

Click to enlarge

Julia Schilling

Birth date: 17 January
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Website: julia-schilling.com and WhatIfTheySwamHere

For inspiration, I usually: read about natural history, voyages or the work/lifestyle of passionate scientists
My biggest influence: language, landscape, ecosystems, translations and mistranslations

Day job: Telephone captioner for the hard of hearing
Favorite animal: how could I choose?
Favorite artist: Maya Lin or Roni Horn; they are both so poetic

Hidden talent: I am a harmonica master
Secret confession: I can barely play row your boat on the harmonica and not very well.  And that was a couple years ago.
Three things that always put me in a good mood: Picking vegetables from my garden, building or fixing a useful object, making pun themed valentines

My biggest pet peeve: Designated tupperware areas of any household.  No matter how hard one tries to be organized about it, the right lid for the already full container hides elsewhere.  It’s universal.
My greatest achievement: FINALLY finished Crime and Punishment after many false starts over a couple of years.  It was a surprisingly humorous romp.

Tell us a story:
European settlers brought the dandelion with them to the Americas as a versatile food crop.  Wind, as well as a fast growing popularity among many native tribes, caused the dandelion to spread quickly.  When explorers Lewis and Clark set out to discover the new frontier of the western coast, they were looking upon a landscape already altered by the hand of Europe.

The dandelion had beaten them there.

Currently shown:
“Directions for Dinner” – Wall installation at the White Whale Gallery (Milwaukee, WI)
“Crater Lake Cow” – Blue dye on aluminum (Milwaukee, WI)
“What a Tale” – Ink on paper (Milwaukee, WI)

Click to enlarge

Tali Yalonetzki

Birth date: 19.5.83
Hometown: Tel Aviv, Israel
Website: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Tosya?ref=pr_shop_more

For inspiration, I usually: sit and watch people on the streets, seeing how light falls and makes colors on everything, looking in art books and watching animation movies.

I’m currently working on: materials for both of my Etsy shops and drawings for a childrens’ magazine called “Eynaim” (Eyes in English)

My biggest influence: Artist and illustrators, Corneliu Baba and Malcolm T. Liepke; my color work would not have been the same without them. I also find the boldness and originality of illustrators like Kalman Maria Kveta Pacovska greatly inspiring. (I feel greatly honored to have a collection of Kveta’s books – her work is really evoking and powerful).

My biggest fan: My dad
Favorite artist: Kveta Pacovska
Favorite website: http://www.superninon.blogspot.com

Hidden talent: Dancing
Secret confession: I talk in my sleep sometimes…
Three things that always put me in a good mood: Light, happy music, people I love
My biggest pet peeve: People who handle their newspaper loudly
I’m deathly afraid of: Driving
I couldn’t live without: Drawing
Addicted to: the Internet

My wildest dream: Making it as a known artist and living a good life after that

Click to enlarge

Introducing the Talents of Vain 09

We are happy to feature artist Kristin “Kecky” Kemper, whose work not only encases a “Peter Pan” in us all, but captures a world of innocence and beauty, easily forgotten during the hustle and bustle of the day to day. She is accompanied by the stylings of national talent ACKlein, the entrancing Jen Kiaba, multi-media wonder Toby Liebowitz and illustrious Mark Addison Smith. Our featured writers include newly-noveled Richard Thomas whose story ‘Stillness’ in Shivers VI will be appearing alongside the fantastical Stephen King, the ever wonderous Vain Copy Editor Jessica Van Gilder, multi-talented jouralist instructor Holly Day, and always humorous David Smith. The music selection this issue features Hot Toddies and Know Your Saints, bringing a lively loving to the music-enthusists in all of us. LIMITED EDITIONS are available for Issue #9.

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When I need a quick jump-start to put me in a creative state of mind, I look to these artists and resources for inspiration.

Sabrina Ward Harrison

Sabrina has long been an inspiration to me and my art. She works in mixed media and photography and her images always have a certain air of freedom and playfulness. Her images usually contain handwritten text– true moments from her life. To get the good stuff, check out her books.

Esopus Magazine

Esopus is a twice-yearly magazine that features artists, writing, interviews, and music, much like another much-loved zine I know… hint hint. The beauty of Esopus is how it is physically crafted. They spare no expense to use unique textures and different papers for each feature. I especially love the little inserts- usually a replica of the art that is featured, or a replica of a letter or found object. I like to think of Esopus as Vain’s chic and well traveled cousin, who shops at vintage stores and wears sunglasses at night. Yep.

Sally Mann

Sally Mann is one of my all time favorite photographers. I love the feel of summer in Virginia through her eyes. Not to mention, her photographs have a beautiful tonal quality. Check out, “What Remains,” a film about her semi-recent “body” of work. (Pun intended.)

That’s just a little about where I go to get inspired. What inspires you? Where do you get your jump-start?

It doesn’t get much better than this

here at Vain. We’re happy to announce the wedding of Executive Editor Tia Orian and Content Director Stephen Lyons.  The couple was married in the quaint town of Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii on September 4, 2010.  Amidst a handful of family and friends, they shared their own vows and enjoyed readings from beloved poet Ted Kooser and childhood favorite The Velveteen Rabbit.  The sunset ceremony was followed by a night of dancing beneath the stars.  Enjoy a few snapshots from the event below.  Click to enlarge.

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