“The Suburbs”

“The Suburbs” is the second piece we are publishing from an open call that asked for work thematically related to “Home.” When Adriana Quezada created her intriguing illustration, she had the idea that the house in the poem was layered and propped up like a set; she even included the carpenters bringing a pretend wall onto the stage. But when the poet saw the illustration, he perceived that everything was “on the verge of falling apart.” The construction and the deconstruction are happening at once.

In an interview with Atticus Review, the poet offered backstory on the poem. When he was a kid, his parents moved from a small house near the Seattle airport to a much bigger house in the suburbs. They sought out the new home, and the “better” neighborhood, as a safe haven for their children. The poet remembers missing his old house terribly, mostly because of his huge, extended family who had lived nearby. And the new house did not, in fact, keep bad things from happening.

Vincent Antonio Rendoni has a Calvin and Hobbes tattoo. The Calvin and Hobbes cartoonist Bill Watterson named his character Calvin after theologian John Calvin, who believed in predestination. Watterson named Hobbes after philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who viewed human nature through a negative lens (to say the least). Calvin and Hobbes are good literary company for Vincent, who “finds dark things funny and laughable.”

Vincent Rendoni believes that if you tell a story, you’d better be entertaining. Especially when family is around, because if you’re not entertaining, someone is going to interrupt you and finish the story for you. As in, get to the point. As in, that’s not what happened at all!

“The Deep Field”

“The Deep Field” came to Atticus Review through an open call for writing that addresses the theme of “Home.” This piece of creative nonfiction includes commentary on the gender politics of astronomy, the challenges of intergalactic snapshots, and the slow poking of Amtrak trains; but it also celebrates the warmth and cozy consciousness that can only be found at home.

The original essay leaned into footnotes to flesh out technical explanations and scientific references. Also, to make room for quite a few stargazer jokes. (You had to be there.) To fit the online format, we merged some of these notes into the text, and put the rest at the end. Wait for it!

Steven Swiryn took up writing partly due to a conversation he had with a poet, a patient at his cardiology practice. When Swiryn retired from medicine, he studied with legendary Chicagoland writer and teacher Fred Shafer. “The Deep Field” is Swiryn’s third published piece of fiction, though he signed his name to over a hundred research articles during his decades in the field of medicine.

When you leave your house at night, do you look up? Steven Swiryn does. But light pollution blocks visibility of the stars in many urban (and suburban) areas; the phenomenon is called skyglow. There’s also a term for sky grief, which some people suffer from when they can’t see the night sky. It’s called noctalgia. Do you miss the stars? We can help! Collect “The Deep Field.”