Rough Copy

The online magazine for creative writing, short stories and artistic expression.

Category: Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008

• We’re back!

  Janet Freeman | 11.09.08 | Editor's Notes, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | Comments

  Thanks for all the positive feedback on our first issue! I’m thrilled to announce that our second has lifted the bar even higher. Be the first to read two new poems from Jason Gray’s forthcoming collection, Photographing Eden. And in her interview with RC editor Laura Horsley, artist Dana Ellyn talks politics and beyond, revealing a vision for how […]

• Vision

  Aikwan Chong | 11.08.08 | Non-fiction, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | 1 Comment

  I was not in the original family photo, although you might say I was, since I was growing in Ma’s belly at the time.  Khoong-Khoong had decreed that a family picture must be taken and that it could not wait for me, because it must coincide with the grand opening of his second coffee shop. 
  The […]

• An Interview with Dana Ellyn

  Laura Horsley | 11.08.08 | Interviews, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | Comments

  D.C. artist Dana Ellyn documents the political, social and cultural events of the day with the humor of a satirist, the mind of an informed citizen and the color and brush strokes of an engaging artist who is serious about her work. Her commentary on the 2008 presidential race and the self-inflicted crippling of U.S. […]

• Christmas with Kings

  Jason Gray | 11.08.08 | Poetry, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | Comments

  Christmas with Kings
                                  Valley of the Kings, Egypt, December 25, 1999
  Here, where kings have come to rest, we are
  The day’s first tourists, sun just a white glare.
  Robed men perch in the rocks above the valley,
  Watchdogs or worse, as we enter an open tomb.
  Cold walls have lost most of their paint, the flecks
  Of sky flaked off […]

• The Queen Died of Grief

  Jason Gray | 11.08.08 | Poetry, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | Comments

       What makes a story: why.
  The queen’s pain burst the royal cloak
              And left her to die.
       The subtle glancing stroke
  Of the pen changes the story’s shape:
              From the royal oak
       She hanged herself, the rope
  Made of hairs from her adorer,
              Who gave her a slip
       Of a ring, the queen’s before her,
  Under the very […]

• What We Always Say

  Rachel E. Greer | 11.08.08 | Fiction, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | 2 Comments

  A few days ago my father said, “I don’t think I’ll ever make art again.” His hair flew off his head at odd angles, and his face was gaunt with shades of grey and yellow. We were on the subway.  I looked around at the other passengers, waiting for their reactions.  A Dominican lady with […]

• The Horse Dream and the Funeral

  Christina Wells | 11.08.08 | Non-fiction, Vol1, Issue2 - Fall/Winter 2008 | Comments

  Our first mistake was watching back-to-back shows about the paranormal in the old farmhouse while Grammy was dying next door. My next mistake was noticing when Kate asked Jen if she’d ever thought the house was creepy when they were kids. Kate had just put her three year old to bed, and she leaned towards […]

Egg Beater
by Heather McQueen