VOLUME TWO • ISSUE ONE

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 VOLUME TWO • ISSUE ONE

Montana Mouthful is an independent digital lit- Introduction .......................................................................II

erary magazine devoted to short fiction and non-
fiction, poetry, and visual artwork. Each issue is Party Animals .....................................................................3
themed. We aim to publish three times per year.
Ooops .................................................................................7
Although we seek short pieces—just a mouthful—
avoid sending anecdotes. Surprise us with your When Clowns Put On Their Show.....................................8
words. Strive to submit stories that build toward
something more than a punchline or trick end-
Freak Show .......................................................................11
ing. Montana Mouthful is open to most subjects Clown College ..................................................................15
and styles; however, we are not interested in
gratuitous sex or violence. Play Fight..........................................................................17
Yellow Clown Teeth ..........................................................21
EDITORS
Jasmine Swaney Lamb Finger-wagging .................................................................22
Cari Divine Tail-isman.........................................................................23
Holly Alastra
Done Did It ......................................................................24
WE PUBLISH
Fiction
His Eldest Son Would Abuse the Household
Flash Fiction: 1,000 words or less (up to 2 pieces); Staff in the Following Manner..........................................26
Short Story: 2,000 words or less (up to 2 pieces);
Generation Z ....................................................................28
Non-Fiction
Essay: 2,000 words or less (up to 2 pieces); Jungleball ..........................................................................29
Narrative Nonfiction: 2,000 words or less Johnny Reno .....................................................................35
(up to 2 pieces).
The Roommate..................................................................37
Poetry
1,000 words or less (up to 3 pieces) Balloon Bender .................................................................43
Artwork/Photography Camp Songs......................................................................45
Up to 10 images April Fools Regrets ...........................................................48
SUBMISSIONS ShopU...............................................................................49
Please send us your work via Submittable at
https://montanamouthful.submittable.com/submit 180° Different View ..........................................................51
Emailed submissions will not be accepted.
In closing ..........................................................................53
VIEWING Biography..........................................................................54
ISSUU: https://issuu.com/montanamouthful/
MAGCLOUD: magcloud.com

CONTACT
Email: admin@montanamouthful.com
Web: montanamouthful.com
Facebook: facebook.com/montana-mouthful
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DESIGN
Cover art:
Layout and graphic design by Luke Duran,
Element L Design Resentment | ANNA RUNNALLS

montanamouthful.com Montana Mouthful | 1

POETRY
His Eldest Son Would Abuse
the Household Staff in the
Following Manner
by Jeffrey Burghauser
Having called a maid, the little shit
Makes her stand inside of the acute
Wedge that’s rendered by an open door;
Having forced her to insert her fore-
Finger and her thumb into the slit
That the door & molding constitute
Near the middle hinge of naval brass,
His complexion reddens like a brick
As he dances like a lunatic
Over marble green as sparrowgrass.
Having sprinted all the way around
To the other side (recall that these
Doors are massive), he produces one
Linen-colored egg, and, thereupon
(Under some Pissarro or renowned
Flemish portrait of Maimonides)
Sticks it where her fingers form a vise.
Nietzsche taught in his eternal jeer
How to render Force an atmosphere;
Someone else’s woe, your paradise.
26 | Montana Mouthful
Since the egg is broader than the slit,
She is stuck: Release the egg, and hatch
Yet another mess she’d have to clean;
Any effort to outthink the mean,
Simple insolence sustaining it
Might reorient the door, and ratch
All those fingers like a grey linnet
Trapped inside a spinning dynamo—
Or await aid, and, while doing so,
Hemorrhage dignity by the minute.
And the maid cannot appeal to her
Master, for he’s skipped away, attacked
With moronic joy at what he’s done.
This is Richard Cory’s eldest son,
Scrambled in a gaily mindless whir
(Nicotine’d, caffeine’d, and armagnac’d)
To abuse the small Rodin with sticks—
To engage in tickling the mare,
Barking Heil, mein Führer! to a pear,
Peepingtommery, or politics.
Vol. 2 • Issue 1
Biography
Marc Alexandre
Marc Alexandre (b. 1987) is an artist living in Princeton, New
Jersey. He creates photographic images that explore the com-
plex relationships of Americans with their country. Marc is a
current Graduate student at the Hartford Art School MFA in
Photography program. You can find out more about Marc at
the following: marcalexand.re/ and @marcalexand.re on Insta-
gram.
Joshua Atlas
Joshua Atlas currently lives and travels throughout the South-
west United States, focusing his time as a painter in an Albu-
querque studio, and drawing and illustrating on the road.
You can find out more about Joshua at the following: joshuaat-
las.net/ , @inkonpaperabq on Instagram, and flickr.com/pho-
tos/atlasjoshua/ .
Andrea Avery
Andrea Avery is the author of Sonata: A Memoir of Pain and the
Piano (Pegasus Books, 2017). Her work has appeared in
Ploughshares, Real Simple, and The Oxford American. She lives
in Phoenix, Arizona, where she works as a teacher. She is work-
ing on a novel. You can find out more about Andrea at the fol-
lowing: andreaaveryauthor.com, @and_read on Twitter,
@andreaavery77 on Instagram, and facebook.com/andreaav-
eryauthor.
Candy Bedworth
Candy Bedworth’s remote, rain soaked farmhouse clings to a
steep-sided valley in rural Wales. She raises chickens and chil-
dren with varying degrees of success. Art, literature and Lakrids
licorice save her sanity on a daily basis. She writes regularly for
‘dailyartmagazine.com’ and can be found on Facebook and In-
stagram. (@candybedworth)
54 | Montana Mouthful
Zoe Blaylock
Formally educated at Harvard, and informally but more
persuasively in the school of hard knocks and droll encounters,
Zoë Blaylock is now a committed volunteer who works in
healthcare/research ethics at several medical and academic cen-
ters in San Diego.
Jeffrey Burghauser
Jeffrey Burghauser is a teacher in Columbus, OH. He was
educated at SUNY-Buffalo and the University of Leeds. He
currently studies the five-string banjo with a focus on pre-
WWII picking styles. A former artist-in-residence at the Arad
Arts Project (Israel), his poems have appeared (or are forth-
coming) in Appalachian Journal, Lehrhaus, New English Review,
and Iceview (Iceland). His book-length collection Real Poems
is available on Amazon. amazon.com/dp /1727378768 You can
find out more about Jeffrey at jeffreyburghauser.com.
Erin Cork
Erin Cork lives in Missoula, MT. She writes and hikes in the
mornings with her two rescue mutts. She works the swing shift
as a train dispatcher, drinks a lot of coffee and uses foul language.
Her work has been featured in X-R-A-Y Lit, Hypnopomp, Image
OutWrite and Memoir Mixtapes. She has other pieces about to
drop elsewhere. She is working on another draft of her first
novel and an essay collection. You can find out more about Erin
at the following: elcork17@twitter and elcork17@instagram.
RC deWinter
RC deWinter’s poetry is anthologized in New York City Haiku
(NY Times, 2017), Uno: A Poetry Anthology (Verian Thomas,
2002), in print in 2River View, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review,
borrowed solace, Pink Panther Magazine, Down in the Dirt, An-
other Sun, Plum Ruby Review, forthcoming in Genre Urban Arts
and in numerous online literary journals. You can find out more
about RC on Twitter @RCdeWinter and at rc-dewinter.pix-
els.com/.
Ken Elliott
Ken Elliott grew up in suburban Orange County, California
and joined the Army straight out of high school in order to see
the world. Instead, they sent him to a swamp in Central
Louisiana. He studied journalism in college, but did not be-
come a journalist. His work has appeared in Gemini magazine
and will be published in an upcoming CC&D magazine. He
has also published a children’s book entitled The Wish through
Adamo Press. It made the author approximately $48.00 but
can be found in libraries nationwide.
Vol. 2 • Issue 1