Sleepless #7 by Joe Kapitan art by Maggie Burgan The children I could have had are assembled again, stacked like kindling in my bedroom closet, fidgeting, so anxious to talk, like they are every year at this time, but they've gotten more persistent of late and I've had to resort to new tactics, leaving plates of fresh excuses for them to fight over, but even that isn't working anymore, and look, now they've built a little dollhouse from the dense thicket of my bullshit and they've set it on fire and the flames are climbing, burning my advanced degrees and my power suits and my pick-up shirts, and how their little faces shine like hungry mirrors aimed backwards, and one looks like the Italian girl from college, the one whose heart and teeth were too big, and another the red-haired divorcee from work who set free two words for every hundred she held molded inside her mouth, and so many others who all became lighthouses to me, telegraphing their flaws across restaurant tables, here lie no ports, just lipstick reefs, and see how the flames are spreading and My God they're on fire now too!, the children!, and I struggle out of bed to save them but the sea is too deep and it's too late, their faces have melted down to empty canvas and now they can't belong to anyone and I am another year older and I will never know what it means to be the last one out of a burning house. Read the interview. Joe Kapitan lives in northern Ohio, on land that once was the shore of an ancient sea, hence that lingering briny smell. His writing has appeared in Wigleaf, PANK, elimae, Emprise Review and others, and is pending print publication in Fractured West and Bluestem. Maggie Burgan is a freelance graphic designer living in Hudson, Ohio. More of her work can be seen at www.maggieburgan.com. All content in SmokeLong Quarterly copyright 2003-2012 by its authors. Issue Thirty-Three (October 2, 2011): Egg Toss, August 1989 by Meagan Cass «» Dinner Parties Where Place Cards Leave No Choice in Seating by Chella Courington «» Sovetskoye Shampanskoye by Berit Ellingsen «» They Live in Black and White by Danica Green «» Watermelon Seeds by Micah Dean Hicks «» Gwendolyn by Robert Hinderliter «» Sleepless #7 by Joe Kapitan «» Mutual by Henry S. Kivett «» Wolf Cry by Sara Lippmann «» Jamila by Carmel Reid Mawle «» When I Lose Track of the Children, 5 & 7, Near the Magazine Section at Costco by Christopher Merkner «» Finally by John Minichillo «» I'm a Woman For Sure by Kate Nesheim «» Exposure by Katy Resch «» The Road to the Casino Del Sol by Mather Schneider «» Never Never by Amber Sparks «» The Language of Hairzilla by Chris L. Terry «» Interviews: Meagan Cass «» Chella Courington «» Berit Ellingsen «» Danica Green «» Micah Dean Hicks «» Robert Hinderliter «» Joe Kapitan «» Henry S. Kivett «» Sara Lippmann «» Carmel Reid Mawle «» Christopher Merkner «» John Minichillo «» Kate Nesheim «» Katy Resch «» Mather Schneider «» Amber Sparks «» Chris L. Terry «» Cover Art "Sparta, NJ" by David Ohlerking «» 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.