Issue #8 Contributors
JC Alfier • Mileva Anistasiadou • Berin Aptoula • X.C. Atkins • Pam Avoledo • Sammy Bellin • Terry Brinkman • Peter Bullen • Sam Casey • Sam Cavnar-Johnson • Angel Cetorelli • Michael J. Clark • John Cohle • Chris Cooper • Craig Cotter • Tinamarie Cox • Sarah Das Gupta • Geoffrey Detrani • Marco Etheridge • Melissa Feuerstein • Tim Frank • Riam Griswold • Ken Haas • Alan Hardy • Jer Hayes • Scott Holstad • Jonathan Humble • Erin Jamieson • Beth Kephart • Craig Kirchner • Josiane Kouagheu • Stephen Leach • Edward Lee • Rowan MacDonald • Sia Mehta • Marc Meierkort • Mike Meltone • Justine Nicholes • Tamara Pantović • Rissa Pappas • Timothy Pilgrim • John RC Potter • Diana Raab • Fred Ragsdale • Samantha Ratcliffe • Thomas Riesner • Layla Sabourian-Tarwe • Gerard Sarnat • Brandon Shane • Topher Shields • Amy Shore • Michael T. Smith • Scout Taylor • Foy Timms • Douglas Twells • Vantage • Pradeep R. Varadwaj • Philip Venzke • Tamizh Ponni VP • Flo Ward • Ernest Williamson III • Corey J. Willis • Hayden Winston • Michael Worthington • Tetiana Yatsechko-Blazhenko • Jeffrey Zable • Saba Zahoor
Issue #8 of The Argyle Is Here!!!
All new poetry, fiction, CNF, and digital art, so dive in and enjoy!!!
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Theme 08: “Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux”
Now that we have had a taste of the rural life (Theme 06: “Bucolia”) and a bite of the big city (Theme 07: “Bright Lights, Dark City”, The Argyle is going to stay a while as we have had a large number of responses to our call for Theme 07. We will continue our theme into Issue No. #9, offering our readers a “Part Deux.” So, we will accept submissions of poetry, fiction, CNF, and digital art that center around urban life with all its glamors and all its pitfalls.
We want front row seats for the “rat race.” Accounts from casualties of urban sprawl. Mainly, though, we want glimpses of life underground that are strange enough to be true, which could inlcude (but are not limited to) existential crises in art galleries, the plight of sex dungeons during a nationwide bleach shortage, street vendors with questionably sourced ingredients, street prophets that can actually predict the future, socialites who run illegal cockfights in their poolhouses, and desperate writers that sell their souls to the devil for a spot in the Paris Review.
Give us the real. Give us the absurd. Give us a dazzling—but sobering—look at the dirty underbelly of city life. Above all, your submissions should reflect the humanity beneath it all. The triumphs. The failings. The ongoing struggle for more ____________ (fill in the blank).
Submissions for “Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux” must be original pieces (no reprints) and must follow submission guidelines. Subs are now OPEN.
Spotlight on…
Sneak Peek of Theme 07: “Bright Lights, Dark City”
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"Brave New World"
CNF by Sia Mehta
“My father has German blood, did you know? That means I have German blood, too. I hope that the Nazi ghosts won’t tell me where they hid the bones.”
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"The Suitcase Project"
Digital Art by Michael Worthington
“The idea with The Suitcase is that sadness is an emotion we experience but try to hide behind a facade.”
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"CITY [E]SCAPES"
Poetry by Gerard Sarnat
“poverty porn — / sofa surfing— stale / bread, butter /entire livelihood / in shopping bag — down / to three potatoes a day…”
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"Blip's Break"
Fiction by Angel Cetorelli
“He surveyed the creatures flitting around him. Ara, Marcus-with-the-face-tattoo, that girl he used to buy coke from whose name he’d long forgotten, strangers he might never speak a word to or see again but could bare his soul to with the expression on his face and the movement of his body.”
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"Vindictive Vines"
Poetry by Sam Casey
“Wine stained lips linger longer on the lovers' / Quarrel as night descends into dusk, / Clarity's tatters dissipating and Passion's poison / Seeping into blood once hot with unbridled love.”
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"Each Night Is New Again"
Flash Fiction by Pam Avoledo
“There’s a 24 hour diner open and we slid into the round seats, facing the street. The drag queen, Aurelia Summer, her golden hoop earrings still on, waves at us and drinks her coffee.”
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"Neon Saints, K Road"
Poetry by Topher Shields
“A boy leans in a doorway / offering nothing named— / just the pause…”
Theme 07: “Bright Lights, Dark City”
Issue #8 Highlights
"SAKE LOVE" by Diana Raab (poetry)
"All on Eight" by Rowan MacDonald (flash fiction)
"Digital Art by Thomas Riesner" (Theme 07: Bright Lights, Dark City)
"Shadowsteps" by JC Alfier (digital art)
"Take Out" by Peter Bullen (fiction)
"The Dream of a Blind Mole-Rat Draught Excluder" (poetry)
"Memory Guide" by Alan Hardy (Theme 07: Bright Lights, Dark City)
"Untitled #2" by Vantage (digital art)
"My Name Is..." by John RC Potter (fiction)
"Frozen Leaves Trapped Beneath the River's Ice" by Sammy Bellin (poetry)
"Between Dialects" by Saba Zahoor (Theme 07: Bright Lights, Dark City)
"Portrait in Berry" by Tinamarie Cox
"The End of the World" by Flo Ward (
"Letter to the Gitting Place" by Craig Kirchner (poetry)
"Hypervigilance" by Foy Timms (Theme 07: Bright Lights, Dark City)
"Midterm Matchups" by Corey J. Willis (digital art)
Spotlight on…
Featured Poetry from The Argyle…
“Sleeping Beauty”
by Ken Haas
“She woke. No assist. No strings / attached. Won’t even nap now. / Which has nothing to do with the pea. / Though she’s done with / that nightmare about the frog. “
Note from the EIC
The Argyle is back with Issue No. 8! We have some great content for you this issue, including our themed page “Bright Lights, Dark City,” which actually rivaled “Bucolia” in terms of popular reasponse from our submitters. Who knew?
Submissions for Issue #9’s “Theme 08: Bright Lights, Dark City, Part Deux” are currently open, which continues to ask creatives to explore the unseemlier side of city life. Our open call for digital art and themed submissions will open on June 25th @ midnight for Issue #9, so get ready to kick your “little darlings” out of the nest. We’ll be waiting.
The Argyle, as many of your know, is a bit late posting this quarter due to some challenges around staffing and life in general. Unfortunately, due to may challenges on this end, a lot of attention had to go toward personal and financial matters the past few months, so Issue #9 is a bit slight in terms of Fiction and Nonfiction, but we are busing at the seams with poetry, digital art, and out themed submissions. All in all, we have a pretty well-packed issue given the circumstances.
Submitters who HAVE NOT received a decline or acceptance for Issue #8 submissions will have their submissions considered for Issue #9, which drops September 2026. We hope to get reponses out sooner than later.
Last point of interest. Our amazing Poery Editor Damon Hubbs will be leaving his post here at The Argyle to focus more on his own writing and also to focus on submissions at Blood+Honey, where he is also a poetry editor. Until we get a replacement, poetry subs may be a bit slow to get a response, so please be patient.
None of this would even be possible without the amazing work and dedication of our EDITORS!!! Their creative voices have shaped The Argyle’s trajectory marvelously, and the magazine couldn’t be in better hands. We are currenlty looking for new voices and new lenses to add to our editorial team, so don’t hesitat to contact me @ eic@theargylelitmag.com to get a conversation started.
As always, we continue to be floored by the support of our readers and contributors, alike, and we feel privilaged to continue to be a part of your literary lives.
Sincerely,
David Estringel
EIC @ The Argyle Literary Magazine
Featured Digital Artist
Collage Series: Ново двайсет
by Berin Aptoula (a.k.a. BALKAN VILLAIN)
Help keep The Argyle going and support us by making a one-time or recurring donation today.
Featured Fiction from The Argyle…
“Flowers”
by X.C. Atkins
“I’d dump them into the lake just out of town, as usual. I sawed them into manageable pieces, listening to the Cocteau Twins.”
Blood+Honey
Blood+Honey
Blood+Honey June ‘26 cover art
If you love The Argyle, give our sister lit mag Blood+Honey a read!!! We have the best in experimental and avant garde poetry, fiction, CNF, digital art, and much much more. New content published daily!
Blood+Honey’s submission window will temporarily close on 8/1/26!!!
C’mon over and have a taste!
Featured Nonfiction from The Argyle…
Brave New World
by Sia Mehta
“My father has German blood, did you know? That means I have German blood, too. I hope that the Nazi ghosts won’t tell me where they hid the bones.”
General digital art and themed submissions for Issue #9 are now OPEN!!!
See our “Submissions” guidelines and send us your 'little darlings’!
March 2026 Cover Art by Paul Warren
Missed any of the #1 thru #7 issues of The Argyle?
No worries. Check our Archives and catch up!!!
