Island of Misfit Lit

Written By Rebecca Barnard
Featured
From Future Streaming Services User Generated Content #2, by Jason Herbert
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
From Future Streaming Services User Generated Content #2, by Jason Herbert
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Everybody in our town carries adrenaline shots. Also, they only go under in pairs.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
How to Get That Nuclear Winter Look from 1600 Penn to Your Own Den, by Tabitha Blankenbiller
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
How to Get That Nuclear Winter Look from 1600 Penn to Your Own Den, by Tabitha Blankenbiller
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Are you looking for the Instagrammiest #holidaywin for 2017? Come on down to the Lancaster Mall Hobby Lobby, where we can help you recreate the yuletide look-of-the-moment for your house!

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Latkes Talk About Why We Never Go to My Parents with Hannukah Even Though We Go to Yours with Christmas, by Yael van der Wouden
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Latkes Talk About Why We Never Go to My Parents with Hannukah Even Though We Go to Yours with Christmas, by Yael van der Wouden
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Roughly grate the potatoes. You can also do this with a blitzer, but there’s something nice about knowing you’re participating in your culture’s tradition by doing it by hand.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Three Poems, by Danny Caine
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Three Poems, by Danny Caine
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Tell whoever says there’s nothingto do in Fremont, Indiana thatthe Holiday Inn Express hasfree cookies all night anda business center and a Christmas treeall in a row in the lobby.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Danny Caine
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Danny Caine
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

People who hate this

song are like people who

don’t like candy corn:

loud, everywhere, and

wrong.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Christmas Cards My Teenage Boyfriend Meant to Send, by Kristine Langley Mahler
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Christmas Cards My Teenage Boyfriend Meant to Send, by Kristine Langley Mahler
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

It’s the seasonal shift, the boomerang-bending-back to turn and return to the hands that cradled us, once, but also the melancholy of realizing all the things that were supposed to happen during the year and didn’t.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Todd Dillard
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Todd Dillard
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

This poem was supposed to be about

Donald Trump playing Dungeons and Dragons,

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Holiday Fruitcakes to Give Away and Enjoy, by Tim Duffy
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Holiday Fruitcakes to Give Away and Enjoy, by Tim Duffy
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

When you make the fruitcake there are some rules:

You will want to picture it covered in apricot jam, nuts, the fingerprints of lovers, but that is to get ahead of yourself. To put the cake before the batter, as it were.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Brianna Flavin
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Brianna Flavin
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

First it’s the good sugar, all babyit's cold outside and warm hands of the loveron your spine. While any fool could seethe trees turning to spindle points,

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Little Miss Colorado, by Alex Ebel
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Little Miss Colorado, by Alex Ebel
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Before they searched the basement. Before her father unlatched the stubborn door to the wine cellar. Before they found the small form huddled beneath a white blanket.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
No One Deserves Happiness in Christmas Town, by Amber Sparks
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
No One Deserves Happiness in Christmas Town, by Amber Sparks
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Christmas Town. What a dreadful, dismal, backwater dump

Have you been?

And what I mean is, have you been since you were small and rather naïve?

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Instagram Jesus, by Leonora Desar
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Instagram Jesus, by Leonora Desar
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

We wanted to begin. We wanted to be reborn and die and do all these things at once.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
That Time When Me and Mister Were Celebrities, and We Were All Cousins, by Alison Grifa Ismaili
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
That Time When Me and Mister Were Celebrities, and We Were All Cousins, by Alison Grifa Ismaili
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

I walked into the dirtiest, saddest, scariest gas station in Baton Rouge.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
A Family Tradition, by Dan Shewan
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
A Family Tradition, by Dan Shewan
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

I’ve always envied people who can remember holidays from their childhood. I’m not great at remembering things. Sometimes I forget to eat, or shower, or brush my teeth.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Fox My Fox, by James Tadd Adcox
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Fox My Fox, by James Tadd Adcox
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Toward the end, the grandmother began leaving offerings in her backyard each night for the fox. Her family told her not to; but each time they confronted her about it, she claimed she had no idea what they were talking about.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Yelp Reviews of 1998, by Amorak Huey
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Yelp Reviews of 1998, by Amorak Huey
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

like would I go back if I could?it has rained for thirty-six hours & I am bored of the present so sure maybe 

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Fourteen Sticks Inside, by Misti Rainwater-Lites
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Fourteen Sticks Inside, by Misti Rainwater-Lites
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

“Don’t resist counseling.”“I resist everything but clown makeup and donuts.”

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
I Go to Join It, by Ashley Hutson
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
I Go to Join It, by Ashley Hutson
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

In the picture of my heart’s desire, I am watching “Three’s Christmas,” the fourteenth episode of the second season of Three’s Company, and the only holiday episode of my favorite series.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
New Years, by Dina L. Relles
Island of Misfit Lit Issue
New Years, by Dina L. Relles
Island of Misfit Lit Issue

Their feet stuck to the thin layer of beer that coated the kitchen and mail littered the rug by the front door. They went out only to get milk and coffee and diner eggs.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue
Two Poems, by Benjamin Garcia
Island of Misfit Lit Issue, Poetry
Two Poems, by Benjamin Garcia
Island of Misfit Lit Issue, Poetry

Crab—because they skitter sidelong—might counter your clockwise.

Pheasant for fear of your luck taking wing. As Emily Dickinson said: hope is a feathered thing.

Island of Misfit Lit Issue, Poetry
Rebecca Barnard
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I've Been Living in the Upside Down Since Before Living in the Upside Down Wasn't Cool, by Dave Housley