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A Sadness of Homes

12/4/2019

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“The collective noun for humans is a crowd,” the boy says. He sits on a mall bench next to you. 

“Really?” you ask.

The boy looks at you, annoyed, as if you interrupted him. “I don’t like crowds, but I’m here to get better at that,” he says before turning back to the crowd. It’s midday in a busy mall and the boy is observing with glazed eyes. 

Startling you, because you thought the conversation was over, the boy speaks again. “A thief is a thief, but several thieves are a gang. We are never an army of people, despite always being at war. Ants are an army, but I have never seen them go to war. I saw a train of them attack a marshmallow once, but ants are not a train; Jackdaws’ are, despite never sitting in a row.” The boy says it like a chant; to himself, to the crowd, or to you: but you’re just smiling, happy for the distraction, so you don’t answer.

The boy continues: “A confusion is the collective noun for Chiffchaffs, but I think I’m more confused than they are. Ravens are neither an unkindness nor a conspiracy, not in the way crowds feels unkind and conspiring against me.”  

You notice the boy has started clenching and unclenching his fists. He does it to the rhythm of his chant.
You’re still smiling, happy for the distraction. 

“I have never heard Sparrows quarrel like my parents and actual Crows aren’t—” The boy stops mid-sentence. His face darkens as he looks down on his clenched fists.

​Regaining his rhythm, he starts his chant again, the fluorescent light of the mall gone from his face. “Godwits never pray, at least not as often as me: three times before bed—one time before 5:30 PM, Monday to Friday, and I have never seen a Woodcock fall down the stairs.”
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    Remi Skytterstad

    “Remi Skytterstad is from Norway where he studies educational science. He lives with his daughter who attends kindergarten and is currently published in the latest issue of Barren Magazine and Tint Journal.”

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  • Fall
    • Tayler Karinen
    • Benjamin Lindsey
    • Patrick Harrington
    • Rich Ives
    • Kelly Kotewa
    • Craig Rodgers
    • Laura Fletcher
    • Jen McConnell
    • Remi Skytterstad
  • Past Issues
    • YEAR ONE >
      • Issue 1: October >
        • Dalton Day
        • Camila Maldonado
        • Elizabeth Burton
        • Daniel Kay
        • Shelby Bevins-Sullivan
        • Ryan Havers
      • Issue 2: November >
        • Rob Sturma
        • Candi V. Auchterlonie
        • Christopher Mulrooney
        • William James
        • Andrew Rhys Young
        • Michael Cormack
        • Kayla Pongrac
      • Issue 3: December >
        • Ann Huang
        • Peter Vanderberg
        • John Sweet
        • Daniel von der Embse
        • Rebecca Dutsar
        • Sarah Kersey
        • Geramee Hensley
      • Issue 4: January >
        • Stacey Balkun
        • Nolan Liebert
        • Charles Bane Jr.
        • Carly Gordon
        • Yoni Hammer-Kossoy
        • Bryan Harvey
        • Jonathan May
      • Issue 5: February >
        • Meggie Royer
        • I. S. Jones
        • John O'Connor
        • Daniel von der Embse
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        • Jordan Jamison
        • Steve Meagher
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        • Kayla Wheeler
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        • Shannon Austin
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        • Kathy Fish
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        • Louis Jenkins
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        • Yuan Changming
        • Cathy Ulrich
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      • Issue 12: September >
        • Anis Mojgani
        • Levi Andrew Noe
        • Davon Loeb
        • Paul Beckman
        • Lydia Havens
        • William Butler
        • Robert A. Kaufman
    • YEAR TWO >
      • Issue 13: October >
        • R. G. Evans
        • John Pistelli
        • Hannah Brown
        • Carl Boon
        • Christine Nichols
        • Joshua Robert Long
      • Issue 14: November >
        • Rushda Rafeek
        • John Grabski
        • Naima Woods
        • Peter Burzynski
        • Kathleen Radigan
      • Issue 15: December >
        • Jane Rosenberg LaForge
        • Darren C. Demaree
        • Prerna Bakshi
      • Issue 16: January >
        • Daniel Lynch
        • Lena Ziegler
        • Charles Freeland
        • GJ Hart
      • Issue 17: February >
        • Ignacio Peña
        • Kara McMullen
        • Abigail Marshall
        • Carol Park
        • Rob Hill
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        • Maggie Graber
        • Abigail George
        • Nazifa Islam
        • Matthew Moffett
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        • Steve Slavin
        • Olivia Grayson
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        • Roisin Kelly
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        • Mitchell Grabois
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        • Stelth Ulvang
        • Henry Goldkamp
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        • Colleen Rich
        • Jefferson Navicky
        • Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad
        • Simon Perchik
      • Issue 24: September >
        • Sally J. Johnson
        • Lewis Mundt
        • April Vázquez
        • Emma Hutson
    • YEAR THREE >
      • Issue 25: October >
        • Peter Weltner
        • Nicholas Morris
        • Ola Faleti
        • Phoebe Nicholson
      • Issue 26: November >
        • Effy Fritz
        • Maxwell Radwin
        • David Atkinson
        • Eddy Jordan
      • Issue 27: December >
        • Jon Bennett
        • Stephanie Valente
        • Leigh Cheak
      • Issue 28: January >
        • Adrienne Novy
        • John Grabski
        • Fay Sachpatzidis
        • Paulie Lipman
        • Sarah David
      • Issue 29: February >
        • Ron Gibson Jr.
        • Amanda Kabak
        • Travis Naught
        • Allen Forrest
        • Susan Monaghan
      • Issue 30: March >
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        • ​Lino Anunciacion
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        • Reneé Bibby
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        • Daniel Blokh
        • Benjamin Harnett
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        • Alex Ivey
        • Hazem Fahmy
        • Jennifer Moore
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        • Christine No
        • Sarah Destin
        • Claire Hopple
        • Maura Lee Bee
      • Issue 35: August >
        • Luisana Cortez
        • Aza Pace
        • Carrie Chappell
        • Adam Lock
      • Issue 36: September >
        • Jill Mceldowney
        • Leon Kortenkamp
        • Sarah Jones
        • Darren Demaree
    • YEAR FOUR >
      • Issue 37: October >
        • Hannah Stone
        • William Doreski
        • Sarah Wetzel
        • C. T. Salazar
      • Issue 38: November >
        • Kristen Ploetz
        • Stephanie Rael
        • Brittany Frederick
        • Jay Sheets
        • Andy Cashmore
      • Issue 39: December >
        • Taylor Mali
        • Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
        • John Williams
        • Iskandar Haggarty
        • Donald Hubbard
        • Kenneth Otani
        • Alex Miller
      • SPRING >
        • Simon Perchik
        • Lino Anunciacion
        • Colleen Rich
        • Donia Mounsef
        • Nitzan Meltzer Watman
        • Ann Hillesland
        • DJ Swykert
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        • Heidi Seaborn
        • Daniel Nester
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        • Ally Ang
        • Kurt Luchs
        • Joanna Hoffman
      • Winter >
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        • Emma Wang
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        • Darren Demaree
        • Susan J. Mitchell
      • SPRING >
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        • Michael O'Neill
        • Lino Anunciacion
        • Katherine Fallon
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