Issue #9 Contributors
Lilith Acadia • Abdulmueed Balogun Adewale • Joe Baumann • Sandy Beach • Tomás Baiza • Joe Bisicchia • Jack Bordnick • Louis Bourgeois • Ambrielle Butler • Alan Catlin • Alex Carrigan • C. William Carroll • Eliezer Cernin • Craig Cotter • Joe Coy • Shayna Cristy-Mendez • Robert Crowl • Scarlett Davis • Jess Duncan • Maria Duran • Andreas Felps • Rebecca Ferlotti • Lindsay Fiore • Rebbie Flowers • Seth Frame • Sara Freia • Benjamin Goluboff • Howie Good • GTimothy Gordon • Megan Harris • Jack D. Harvey • Devon E. Hayes • Paul Ilechko • James Croal Jackson • Patrick Johnston • Désirée Jung • Carella Keil • James Ross Kelly • Michael Paul Kozlowsky • Sara Krassin • Mark LaMonda • Matthew Landers • Abbie Langmead • David Anson Lee • Karina Longo • Brooke MacDonald • Nasta Martyn • Rachel Christina McConnell • Keith Melton • Daniel Edward Moore • James B. Nicola • Natasha O’Hara • Cassaday O’Rielly-Hahn • Leah Oates • Chloe Paige • Kasey Perkins • John RC Potter • Julie Puckett • Forrest Rapier • henry 7. reneau, jr. • Sandip Saha • Rob Schwartz • Deborah Shrimplin • Walter Skinner • mike sluchinski • Ron Smith • Madeline Stratford • Edward Supranowicz • Charles Sutphin • Scott Taylor • Jason M. Thornberry • Stuart Watson • Christopher Woods • Jason Youngclaus • Jeffrey Zable
Issue #9 of The Argyle Is Here!!!
All new poetry, fiction, CNF, and digital art, so dive in and enjoy!!!
Follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Facebook for news and updates!!!
Issue #9, The Argyle’s last issue!!! We’ll be around until 12/15, and then we will have to bid you adieu!
Sneak Peek of Theme 08: “Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux”
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"No One Here Gets Out Alive"
CNF by James Ross Kelly
“IT WAS SUMMER 1970, and she worked at a topless bar an hour’s drive north of San Francisco…She was a country stripper with a good hippie heart, and her name was Vivian.”
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"Follow"
Digital Art by Christopher Woods
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"On the Right Drug"
Poetry by Jeffrey Zable
“The right drug would give me peace of mind… / along with a sense that it’s all been worth it.”
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"Red Light District"
Fiction by Scott Taylor
“down under, i took a stroll thru the red light district of king's cross. feeling mellow and lost, i wandered thru in the afternoon checking out the early whores and the strip club fellers who beckon you to come on in.”
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"Signals"
Poetry by Jason Youngclaus
“We tumble into virtue / signals harder than dice / against Casino hardwood.”
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"Bodega Cats"
Flash Fiction by Chloe Paige
“Under the fluorescent lights of the bodega, Papa counts the cash from the register, sighs, and stuffs the bills in one of the two jars inside the safe.”
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"Telepathy IV: Pigeons and Warblers (or The Price of Company)"
CNF by James B. Nicola
“I fear that now the pigeons and occasional warbler know they have nothing to fear from me and will be visiting my terrace this season more than ever…but also that I'll be spending undue time and effort washing off guano from the ledge.”
Spotlight on…
Theme 08: “Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux”
Issue #9 Highlights
"An Ode to My Throat" by Andreas Felps (poetry)
"Language Barrier" by Joe Baumann (fiction)
"Road to Safety" by Sandy Beach (digital art)
"Something In the Water" by Ron Smith (nonfiction)
"God Forbid" by Megan Harris (fiction)
"The Meaning of Water" by Karina Longo (poetry)
"A Beginning and End" by Deborah Shrimplin (nonfiction)
"Untitled #2" by Nasta Martyn (digital art)
"The Ghoul" by Devon E. Hayes (fiction)
“barrels and seashores (or andaman sea monsoon nights)” by mike sluchinski (poetry)
"Unmoving, Untroubled" by Seth Frame (nonfiction)
"Inventory of Neon Aftermaths" by David Anson Lee (poem - Theme 08: Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux)
"Ever Feel a Million Miles from Nowhere?" by Howie Good (digital art)
"In His Final Hours" by Matthew Landers (fiction)
The Twenty-Thousand Pound Woman (An Ekphrasis for Coyolxauqui) by Tomás Baiza (poetry)
"Death of the Suit" by Robert Schwartz (nonfiction)
"Untitled #3" by Eliezer Cernin (digital art)
"Heartbreak Aisle" by Carella Keil (poetry)
"Polichinelle" by Louis Bourgeois (poetry)
"The Lost Voice of God" by Charles Sutphin (microfiction - Theme 08: Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux)
Spotlight on…
Featured Poetry from The Argyle…
“Send Nudes”
by Rachel Christina McConnell
“Exposed, my body feels like a crime scene. / The faint mist of a finger-smudged lens, / the halo of a chalk outline: / dead girl in a rented room…”
Note from the EIC
The Argyle is back for one last hoorah with Issue No. 9. We have got some great poetry, fiction, CNF, and digital art for you, as well some additional amazingness on our themed page “Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux”, our most popular themed call-for-submission. Again, we are very sorry for the delay in getting this issue out to everyone, but external demands for time and energy made wrapping up our run a bit of a challenge…but we did it.
It is with great sadness that The Argyle closes its virtual doors. We have been a part of many of your literary lives since the beginning of 2024, even coming back from a tornado disaster to continue bringing you some of the best creative works out there. I had hoped that our run would be much longer than it has been, but life has its own ideas. Continuing in an extremely limited capacity would only serve to minimize the quality of the mag; therefore, the difficult decision to close shop had to be made. I have been truly overwhelmed by the kind words and support from our readers and contributors, alike, since we broke the news about the closure. It warms my heart to hear how much impact The Argyle has had on many of you, and I can only say that I—and the editors—are honored to have contributed to the joy our pages have brought everyone.
The Argyle had been a dream of mine for a very long time, and I consider myself lucky to have had a chance to realize that dream and head this pretty amazing lit mag for almost three years, so I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of our readers and contributors for supporting us. I especially want to thank our editors (past and present) for making The Argyle so special, even more than I thought it could be. With the utmost love and respect, I thank them for their brilliance and dedication (I am sure Argyle will to as soon as he stops likcing himself up there, wherever he is, in doggie heaven).
For now, enjoy Issue #9, as well as Issues #1 thru #8 in the archives. The site will be up and running through December 15, 2026—after that, we disappear into the internet ether.
With the utmost sincerity,
David Estringel and Argyle Soxx Estringel
EIC @ The Argyle Literary Magazine (and his favorite dog ever)
Spotlight on…
Diabetic Gumdrops
by Ephraim Scott Sommers
From the prize-winning author of The Night We Set the Dead Kid on Fire and Someone You Love Is Still Alive, Diabetic Gumdrops is a startling perspective on chronic illness, written in the first six months of Ephraim’s diagnosis with Type-One Diabetes.
Sommers says he was trying to force himself toward a mindset of gratitude that he wasn’t yet capable of in real life, “so the ode as a form became a place of hopeful destination.” In 24 poems of praise spread over 88 pages, readers will find all the wonder and frustration and laughter and anger and thankfulness that might accompany any difficult medical challenge.
“I’m completely jealous of the odes that make Diabetic Gumdrops such a passionate and profound book of poems on love, loss, and physical well-being.”
~Jericho Brown, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Tradition
Check out Ephraim Scott Sommers’ poem “Ode on Returning to a California Beach After Twelve Years” from Issue #6!
“…you should stop here in your silver running shoes / for however long it takes / and stare in awe and hallelujah / at how the whole Pacific Ocean / and the whole North American continent come to an end right here…”
Featured Digital Artist
Maria Duran
Featured Fiction from The Argyle…
Q: Could Pavlov Classically Condition My Husband to Not Be a Dick?
by Brooke MacDonald
““I don’t think the universe cares about your work laptop, sweetie.” My glass was nearly empty, and I thought of what my father used to say to my mother whenever she scarfed something down at the dinner table or chugged a drink too quickly: you must have needed it.”
An Argyle Shoutout!!!
Congratulations, Kirby Michael Wright, on the publication of Riding Shotgun: A Journey Through America!!!
Check out the chapter,“Vegas”, that The Argyle published in Issue #5’s nonfiction!!!
Audio Recording of Kirby Michael Wright reading “Baton Rouge”
Featured Nonfiction from The Argyle…
The Chaos Addict
by Robert Crowl
“Dad’s presence had dwindled since the start of Junior year. Mama drank more and more to compensate as if she thought it could join them by way of ritual.”
June 2026 Cover Art by Paul Warren
Missed any of #1 thru #8 issues of The Argyle?
No worries. Check our Archives and catch up!!! The will be up until 12/15 so get to reading!
