Mary Biddinger

DISHES OF THE AFTERLIFE. None of the good luck foods suited us, so we pretended luck didn’t exist though clearly it did. Yet who is lucky when fortune is tied to pork? My friends and I tried to throw a party but the details were tough so we just watched a few ducks float down the ditch until it got too dark. Of course we thought the cat got out, and Carly screamed, but then he materialized in slinky velvet beneath a box that once housed a case of instant ramen. Of the seven present that night—fashioning aimless mixed drinks with cherry brandy and Sprite, attempting blackjack

with little understanding of rules—only five made it to thirty. Bored disemboweling pizza rolls and fighting over a turntable, mad someone stole a beloved wool sweater or tore the corner of a killer whale poster, did we have any sense of what an eternity meant? Dishes of the afterlife differ between cultures but my grandmother never passed up a chance to slander birds, so no chicken or quail on the docket as we low-key avoid talking about important things. I’m wishing I had not burned the photo of Savannah dressed as

a Victorian ghost, which would be an improvement compared to present, where she occupies some urn or ashtray. We had no idea of permanence, anything could be disappeared in a flaming sink, and why she stepped down the stairs while the smoke stuttered up we’ll never know. Of all the horoscopes one might consult for the new year, none pinches the top of your arm and maybe that’s wrong. My grandmother boiled everything past recognition. We are still waiting for a burner to finally ignite. Mary Biddinger

“Of the seven present that night—fashioning aimless / mixed drinks with cherry brandy and Sprite, attempting blackjack // with little understanding of rules—only five made it to thirty.” —Mary Biddinger (@marybid.bsky.social),”Dishes of the Afterlife” @blacklawrence.bsky.social

Thank you so much for sharing! 🙏

#AWP attendees, be sure to catch our Program Director @marybid.bsky.social reading at the @blacklawrence.bsky.social off-site 🎙️🔥

Going to #AWP? Add this to your off-site schedule! Featuring our Program Director @marybid.bsky.social & alum Carrie George 🎙️🔥

Everyone Bowed Their Head and Prayed for God’s Blessing Mary Biddinger   A convent childhood can be peaceful, my godmother waxed, the same way an empty field can be a bed, a bowl of snow a meal. Beauty was an acre of frozen leaves. Desire lived und…

We read this piece by @marybid.bsky.social tonight in Creative Nonfiction & I'm so in love with it

"Once my godmother swooned over a bead on the sidewalk. It turned out to be an odd nub of frozen blood, somehow more resplendent than a gem."

pitheadchapel.com/everyone-bow...

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Congrats to our Program Director @marybid.bsky.social on her 2025 Best Microfiction nomination from @whaleroadreview.bsky.social 💫

Fiction of 2025 - Community of Literary Magazines and Presses We’re excited to share this year-end roundup of novels, novellas, short story collections, and fiction anthologies published in 2025 by independent literary publishers! Read our year-end roundups of n...

Program Director @marybid.bsky.social's new novella - The Girl with the Black Lipstick - featured in @clmporg.bsky.social's 2025 Fiction Round-Up📚💫

Check out the full list: www.clmp.org/news/fiction...

God’s Plan Occasionally I pine for a mild disaster such as a really loud cough of thunder

“the ice / rink where music remains in 1982, nacho / machine on the brink of a calamitous fire / but somehow still producing its cheeses / which I will never be able to eat, thanks / to my ancestors who survived on boiled / stones” — @marybid.bsky.social psalteryandlyre.org/2019/12/30/g...

Program Director @marybid.bsky.social ‘s prose poetry can be found in the latest print issue of @thimblelitmag.bsky.social 💫

thimblelitmag.square.site/product/8-2-...

The Department of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro invites applications for an assistant professor position in creative writing (poetry), to begin August 1, 2026. For more information and to apply, visit buff.ly/YXi1Y4L, click on “Faculty,” and select position #1460

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Mark your calendars 🗓️

This Saturday (11am-1pm, 11/1) our Prog. Dir. @marybid.bsky.social will be at The Learned Owl Bookshop in Hudson OH for a book signing of her new novella-in-flash, "The Girl with the Black Lipstick" 🖤💛

Come say hi 👋 & pick up a signed copy ✍️

learnedowl.com/event/2025-1...

the night of a thousand jean jackets whispers through the early morning streets of brooklyn, and everywhere in their 2nd hand dens, hibernating hipsters begin to stir in search of a mate.

New prose poem from @marybid.bsky.social out now at @thimblelitmag.bsky.social ❤️‍🩹

Read here: www.thimblelitmag.com/2025/07/21/e...

Thank you for sharing, @simeonberry.bsky.social 🤩🎉

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Featuring @marybid.bsky.social

Thanks much for sharing, and gratitude to @whaleroadreview.bsky.social ✨

Since I live in a place without colorful leaves or colder weather to make it feel like fall, our fall issues are my favorite harbingers of the season. This Fall 2025 issue is full of earnest language and surprising humor, and these pieces are packed with autumn.

www.whaleroadreview.com/issue-40

Issue 40 also features work by @marybid.bsky.social @briansimoneau.bsky.social @maudmci.bsky.social @calliebdean.bsky.social @marjorietesser.bsky.social @emmabolden.bsky.social @esylviapoet.bsky.social @clairemtaylor.bsky.social @brettwarren23.bsky.social and more!

Tonight w/ @marybid.bsky.social!!!

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a Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin salt and shaker set except Pooh bear is looking blankly at Christopher Robin who appears to have decided to curl up in the fetal position while pressing his face into the ground

ah yes the two types of poets

GRUMPYE TEENAGE SHAKESPEARE:

"Thys ys just a stage, son."

"ALL THE WORLDE YS A STAGE, DAD!!!! UGH!'

Mark your calendars...faculty members Catherine Wing (Kent) & @marybid.bsky.social (UA) are reading at Mac's Backs!

Catherine will read from her classic collection, "Gin & Bleach," while Mary will read from her new novella-in-flash, "The Girl with the Black Lipstick."

See you there!

MIDWEST CITIES by Eric Morris Every Quik Lube Midwest city has its own dead kid, a We Buy Gold & Coins billboard assaulting oncoming traffic, a manmade lake even the locals don’t want to talk about. The dead kid is twenty years…

“Every Midwest city is a battle cry in need of a battle. Every dead kid is a lighthouse without a harbor or water…”

New from Eric Morris!
https://www.havehashad.com/2o4sx

Thank you so much, @blacklawrence.bsky.social 🎩