April proved to be a month of repetitions. As noted below, “Preserved“—the documentary essay I wrote as a student at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies—had a well-received second life in the (figurative) pages of Redux. Meanwhile, while working with my former professor at Salt to edit an even older essay (which will get its ten-year anniversary reprinting in this coming fall’s issue of Fusion), my newest collection of short stories, the pocket-sized edition Cream River, went into its second printing, this time in the able hands of Pilot Editions. And before May coolly ushered itself in, my flash story “Skidder & Draw“—originally published in Portland Monthly—was republished by the consistently supportive editorship of Matter Press. All of which lend to an oddly comforting mindset, to know that these stories continue to live lives of their own, even after I (in at least once particular instance) have forgotten the stories ever existed at all.

All of which makes me wonder: what other stories have I forgotten about, have neglected? What should I double-back to examine again? What deserves a closer look?