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Volume 1, Issue 1
Editor's Note
Welcome to the Fall 2021 issue of Rock Salt Journal,
Six months ago, I was sitting on the couch, legs covered with a green knit blanket because the heater wouldn’t go over 55 degrees. I turned to my partner and asked her if there was any reason I couldn’t start a magazine. Hannah shrugged and said no. I wasn’t expecting that answer. Did I even want to start a magazine? I imagined five or six days sipping coffee and reading exemplary pieces of fiction, tutting at misspellings, and smiling at the excellent craft. Count me in. Thinking back on the last six months of preparation, I don’t think I drank a single cup of coffee.
I was expecting 50 stories about tugboats and every line of dialogue containing the word, “ayuh”, but what I got was so much better. These stories are scuffed, wind-bitten and angry, sorrowful, unkempt, and human, and as I read them, I saw more of New England (with a smattering of Minnesota) than I do on my ferry commute to get groceries on the mainland every Sunday. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Thank you for reading.
— J.B. Marlow, Editor
Cover Artist
Table of Contents
Everything
The storm floated for a brief eternity, came to rest and sat like a gull upon the rolling sea...
Running to the Articulable
At -22 degrees, it's stuck-inside weather. I go running anyway...
All That Naked Hope
After the funeral, I find my roommate Luke sitting on the floor of his room, still in his dress pants and button-up, a yearbook open on his lap...
In the Woods with Joey
Joey’s got a place in the woods—way out there off State Route 23—that smells like cigar ash and rotten wood...
In a Valley
I was lucky to represent Paul. Ever since his show in 1997, his paintings had a steady market and commanded a good price...
A Last Day
Thom Doebler pulled his pickup in front of the steamroller and parked parallel to the length of its cylinder...