Marooned
by Paige Welsh
[Editor’s Note: Click on the triptych below to view it at full size.]
Paige Welsh is a dual English MA and MFA candidate at Chapman University. As an undergraduate, she studied marine ecology and literature at UC Santa Cruz, where her creative thesis won the Chancellor’s Award. She lives in Orange, CA, with her partner, two cats, and too many chickens
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “ Maroonedtr”? “Marooned” is based on an incident I witnessed as a volunteer at The Seymour Marine Center in Santa Cruz. The small aquarium has an open-top tank for petting two long-suffering swell sharks. The idea was to create a sort of exposure therapy for the public who had been coping with shark anxiety since the release of Jaws. I’m not sure the exhibit had the intended result. Many guests touched the sharks on a dare and then yanked their arms away the moment they made contact. The father who held his toddler over the tank was the most extreme example of a common trope: parents forcing their children to touch the sharks to toughen them up. When the sobbing children begged for a reprieve, it was my job to politely speak on their behalf (and the sharks’, who unlike me never volunteered to participate in this social experiment.) I suspect those children are still afraid of sharks.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
Upcoming
09/15 • Abbie Doll
09/22 • Karen Regen Tuero
09/29 • Amy Speace
10/06 • Jennifer Edwards
10/13 • Joseph O’Day
10/20 • Carolyn Zaikowski
10/27 • Sunmisola Odusola
11/03 • Sara Cassidy
11/10 • Liz Abrams-Morley
11/17 • TBD
11/24 • TBD
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