Keep It Down by Harry Leeds art by Paul Bilger Anthony couldn't keep anything down, so he had to eat through liquid IV. So he didn't like to eat. It made him sick. Also, he didn't like macho-laconic attitudes, especially when they seeped into the the plastic arts. And he didn't like pull-down menus. He didn't like looking at people and he didn't like people looking at him. After they looked at him he still felt like they were looking at him and he didn't like it. He thought and thought so hard about what to like and what to think that he didn't know what to think. He didn't like nougat or cookie-center. They made him sick. He didn't like wearing clothes, how they looked, or being naked, and he didn't like his IV. He didn't like the summer starscape but more he didn't like people talking about the summer starscape or even more people talking about talking about the summer starscape and he always felt sick all the time and just wanted to eat like everyone else. He didn't like the concept of adjusting because he didn't. He really didn't like the bass riff scene transitions in Seinfeld. He didn't like when people used the word "closure" to describe something about not feeling like absolute garbage after someone dies, as though that ever happens. More, when people used "closure" in place of the word "vengeance." He didn't like dying or people or animals or astronomy or the Rare Earth Hypothesis or biomes or binomial nomenclature or people using binomial nomenclature in order to sound smart even when they were. He didn't like anything, it seemed, which was a trait of someone who loved himself and he hated that. Read the interview. Harry Leeds has had work in The Black Warrior Review, NANO Fiction, Gargoyle and elsewhere. He doesn't blog but he did write a novel and received an MFA from the University of Florida. He translates Russian poetry and is moving to Russia. Paul Bilger's photography has appeared at Qarrtsiluni, and has been featured on music releases by Autistici, Atlantic Coral, Brian, and Dead Voices on Air. When not taking pictures, he is a lecturer in philosophy at Penn State. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2013 by its authors. Issue Thirty-Seven (September 24, 2012): Two Boyfriends by Simon Barker «» Two Days in American History by Patrick Allen Carberry «» What I Told God by Sarah Carson «» Partners by Simon Jacobs «» Wreck by Will Kaufman «» Keep It Down by Harry Leeds «» Ants by Lindsey Gates Markel «» Quantifiable Consequence by Adam Padgett «» The Temperature At Which Paper Burns by Young Rader «» Bad Traffic by Matt Rowan «» Clearings by Joseph Spece «» Texas Vs. London by Jon Steinhagen «» Clichés by Aaron Teel «» When I Was Twenty-Three by Dan Townsend «» Revived by Eugenio Volpe «» Jalapeno Summer by Ryan Werner «» A Collector by Bess Winter «» Interviews: Simon Barker «» Patrick Allen Carberry «» Sarah Carson «» Simon Jacobs «» Will Kaufman «» Harry Leeds «» Lindsey Gates Markel «» Adam Padgett «» Young Rader «» Matt Rowan «» Joseph Spece «» Jon Steinhagen «» Aaron Teel «» Dan Townsend «» Eugenio Volpe «» Ryan Werner «» Bess Winter «» Cover Art by Jennifer B. Hudson «» Letter From the Editor Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.