Issue 29

Spring 2022

The 29th issue of Coal Hill Review examines a kaleidoscope of loss and the ways in which people face their realities and reckon with them. From fiction that explores the loss of innocence to nonfiction that records the fracturing of communities as old ways of existing clash with new ideas, and poetry that moves across thresholds and states of being, this issue traverses wide scopes of emotion with clarity and poignancy. Our pieces examine flaws and failures with open arms, and while there may not always be solutions to the ways people harm themselves or others, each work brings forth a cathartic expression of creativity in the face of decay.

Featured Content from Issue 29

Phillip Border

“A Wellspring of Empathy”: A review of You Do Not Have To Be Good by Madeleine Barnes

By | Book Review

Phillip Border reviews You Do Not Have To Be Good, a debut poetry collection by Madeline Barnes.

Issue 29 | Spring 2022

Serenity Prayer

By | Fiction

The bartender, roused from your bed, grumbles and pinches your thigh. You hang up. Fuck you, you say to the bartender when he smirks at you and then rolls over and goes back to sleep like it’s nothing, without even checking if it’s cool for him to keep staying over, which it isn’t.

Issue 29 | Spring 2022

Personal Diary: Same Day, Same Month, Different Year

By | Fiction

Public riot provided by the audience. “You call that music? You call that ballet? You call that art? Let’s scream so loud, the dancers can’t hear the music. Let’s throw punches and fall into the orchestra pit.” And they do.

Issue 29 | Spring 2022

Sunday Drives with My Father

By | Poetry

its knowledge of good and evil coiled on the seat between us.