Reading Lists
The Commuter’s 10 Most Popular Posts of 2021
Rachel Yoder, R.L Maizes, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin wrote some of our most read poetry and flash fiction of the year
Whether it’s disappearing ink or rejection erasure poems, The Commuter, our weekly magazine dedicated to the weird, wonky, and off-kilter, gives a bite-sized sample of dazzling work from writers willing to experiment. Receive a delightful literary amuse bouche in the form of poetry, prose, or graphic narrative every Monday morning by signing up for The Commuter’s newsletter. Out of the 52 issues of The Commuter published this year, here are our top ten, starting with the most read.
“Rejection Erasure Poems” by R.L. Maizes
These erasure poems made from actual rejections received by the author will make you feel better about your own submission tribulations, or at least help you laugh at them.
“Son” by Mike Schoch
Helping a parent move is never fun, especially when that parent is a hoarder. The narrator cycles through rage, bargaining, and guilt directed toward his immigrant father for not overcoming his impoverished youth.
“The Temporary Job” by Hannah Gerson
A young woman starting a new job has a singular, odd task. If the phone rings, she is to not pick it up. Will she be able to ignore the ringing and her curiosity, or will she find out who is on the other side of the ringing?
“Caesara Pittman, or a Negress of God a False Man of God” by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
In this excerpt of “The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You: Stories,” a freed woman is on trial for stabbing a man in self-defense.
“Blanks Lost My Face” by Suzie Eckl
The narrator in this mad libs-esque prose is slowly misplacing parts of herself, like her nose and ears.
“London Foxes” by Kaliane Bradley
It might seem like a good idea to cure mange in the feral foxes, however the city of London learns it quickly spirals to religious mania and nationalism.
Excerpt of Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
A new mother with a bubbling contempt for her situation contemplates herself as a werewolf, dubbing herself Night Bitch. Does this make her son a rotten little cock and her husband a computer nutsack? And what is the hair that suddenly grows at the base of her spine?
“Today” by Nardine Taleb
An aunt and her niece shop, gossip about the men in their lives, and garner stares from the white Ohioans who are not used to brown women showcasing joy.
“Unraveling” by Karen Heuler
A boyfriend is slowly coming undone, thread by thread. What is a woman to do but pull the threads? Maybe use them to sew something more permanent than a lover.
“Black Arion” by Charlie J Stephens
Laying on the basement floor and letting the hermaphrodite snails crawl over your skin might be the best way to handle being eleven.
