Barrett Bowlin is the author of the story collection Ghosts Caught on Film. His essays and short stories can be found in places like Barrelhouse, Ninth Letter, Waxwing, Salt Hill, The Rumpus, and Bayou. An Arkansas expatriate, he now lives and teaches and rides trains in Massachusetts. Find links to his work at barrettbowlin.com, or check him out on Instagram & Twitter (@barrettbowlin).
You could write about this weird thing, and people who like to read will be down to find out about this different world. It’s a very different situation in a nightclub or a theater.
I knew I wanted to be deliberately vague, as to whether something was actually happening. For many people across the world and across time periods, there isn’t always this strong delineation between fantasy and reality.
What does a growth of new grass on a hillside in spring make you feel? Is it a mixture of nostalgia and hope? Or what does a distant mountain range wreathed in a crown of clouds make you feel?
In Japanese martial arts, the uke is the 'receiver' of the technique, the one who attempts to attack their sparring partner, the tori. The tori defends against the attack of the uke, who usually winds up on the floor after getting flipped, swept, thrown, punched, or kicked.