

December 2022
Dear Reader,
And so, we arrive at 8. Four years in, and Lit Jo remains a beacon of dignity. Ha! But there is something to be said for longevity, for refusing to fold under the vagaries of life. To remain creative, even when it’s not convenient, profitable, or even pleasant. In fact, my most revered writers, musicians, and artists are those who have endured over the course of a lifetime, and continue to create, regardless of where the spotlight wanders. Bob Dylan is still touring for fantastic new songs. Patti Smith still blows my mind. David Bowie recorded and released Blackstar at 69, a few months before he left this dimension. It comes down to this: musicians must play, artists must paint, and writers must write. Anything less that this imperative, and you end up the forgotten member of a boy band, or designing bologna labels, or calling it quits after you self-publish your memoir (Oh, yes, I just said that. Quote me on it.)
Lit Jo occasionally tips its hat to these enduring artists, and Volume 8 continues the tradition. Tom Waits is prolifically creative, and has been since his twenties, as a musician and actor. The gravelly voice, the wildly unpredictable, profane and whimsical lyrics accompany a love affair with the piano that borders on infidelity to his wife. He is the kind of musician who has been playing for long enough that you remember whole decades of your life based off a particular album of his. The really good artists do this; they walk with you through your life. His song, “Drunk on the Moon,” was released two years after I was born, on The Heart of Saturday Night. The lyrics had me at “And the moon’s a silver slipper / It’s pouring champagne stars / Broadway’s like a serpent / Pulling shiny top-down cars.” Volume 8 is thus titled “Moon Drunk,” in honor of the song and the singer, and also because there is a dreamlike, blurred quality to his music and the moon itself that also describes a kind of story I love to read.
I hope you will enjoy looking for both the moon and the surreal in this volume, which begins with James-Paul Brown’s beautiful artwork on the cover, and winds through a path of poetry, curated by Shelly Lowenkopf (look for “It is Late and Dark and You’re No Lantern” by Amy McNamara), flash (“And She Lay There in the Moonlight” by Ted Chiles and “Blue Hour” by Chella Courington are favorites), and into short stories like “Destination Unknown” by Max Talley. Be sure to check out our Lyrics section, curated by Dennis Russell, as well as the world-famous “Down the Rabbit Hole” with DJ Palladino, featuring excerpts from his novel, Werewolf, Texas.
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Best,
Silver Webb
The Editrix
Volume 8
Moon Drunk
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December 2022
Le Menu
Listening to the Moon
by Heather Bartos
It is Late and Dark and You’re No Lantern
by Amy McNamara
The Rabbit’s Foot
by Stephen Dean Ingram
Under a New Moon
and Blue Hour
by Chella Courington
Destination Unknown
by Max Talley
And She Lay There in the Moonlight
by Ted Chiles
One Drop of Dew
by Lori Anaya
Insomnia
by Alexis Rhone Fancher
Sonnet,
The Visiting Poet,
and Ishmael and me
by Fritz Feltzer
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Demon Nova
and Subliminal Radio Blues
by Christopher Chambers
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Snow Men
by Joe Ducato
November When Dark Comes Early
by Mary Elizabeth Birnbaum
Random Pieces Pilfered from Chapter 17, Last Chance Texaco by Rickie Lee Jones
by Gary Carter
Cento: A Nation Divided
by Beth Copeland
Moon-Drunk Angel Mine
by Marco Etheridge
La Fille aux Cheveux du Lin
by Shelly Lowenkopf
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Lyrics
The Moon
by Rebecca Troon
Relic of a Rose
by Jen Hajj and Laura Hemenway
Melancholy Tattoo
by Steve Werner
That’s What The Whiskey is For
by Tom Prosada-Rao
Cul-De-Sac
by Cate Graves, Bob Rea, & Ben Rea
Four Walls and a Murphy Bed
by Dennis Russell
The Night I Met George Jones
by Marty Axelrod
Gasoline & Liquor
by Natalie D-Napoleon & Brett Leigh Dicks
Trouble In a Bottle
by Britta Lee Shain
The Party Goes On
by James Houlahan
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Down the Rabbit Hole
Werewolves on the Mesa:
An Interview With DJ Palladino
by Silver Webb
Werewolf, Texas, Prologue
and Werewolf, Texas, Chapter 3
by DJ Palladino
Art
“The Kiss” and “Piano Player, 1996”
by James-Paul Brown
"The Influencer,"
"Front Page,"
and "Untiltled"
by Laura Hemenway