River Teeth

‼️While we're not closing this account (yet), it will be dormant, & we'll shift our updates to Bluesky. We’d love for you to follow us there (@riverteeth.bsky.social) for the latest on essays, Beautiful Things, & all things River Teeth. Be well--& big thanks for your support.

"My inefficiencies are clear. But perhaps none of these are flaws. Who ordained that one’s body must be heavy lifting, that this is the only way to be?" -from "Soft," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Stephanie Mei Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"Tonight, on a video call, a friend mentions her wayward garden, the way everything is overgrown and overwhelming." -from "Kindness Which Feeds Us Another Way," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Allison Macy-Steines Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"Komorebi is Japanese for the sunlight passing through the leaves of trees, literally “tree leaking sun.” Recently, my friend saw trees leaking fog..." -from "Leaking," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Andrew Taylor-Troutman Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"The Swap Meet thrummed with desert heat, high summer, a hundred people trying to buy and sell, trade the worn and tattered for the not-quite-new." -from "Swap Meet," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Melissa Sevigny Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"Outside, the lilacs pant in good measure, their sugar scent somersaulting toward heaven. The woman counts her breaths like new pennies." -from "Bubby and Zaidy 1983," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Laura Bernstein-Machlay Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"After the eggs hatch, we sneak glimpses of the dove parents feeding the babies, their fuzzy heads just visible in the hanging basket." -from "For Life," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Jess D. Taylor Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"I lean into the wind and trek toward the empty center of the lake. Whipping snow zigzags across the whited plane and I race the snow snakes..." -from "Alone on the Winter Lake," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Kate Freeborn Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

Find us over where the skies are blue @riverteeth.bsky.social (Look for the Pete Christman raccoon & you'll know you're in the right place: 🦝)

One more day to submit for the Spring 2025 print issue of River Teeth or publication in our online micro magazine Beautiful Things! (We’ll break for the holidays–by which we mean, we’ll be reading!–& reopen for submissions on January 1, 2025.)

"The bonfire is blazing when I arrive. Later, back home, I will relish the woodsmoke lingering on my skin, my clothes. Sweet balm of October." -from "Things Not Always Seen" this week's Beautiful Things essay by Bex Hoffer Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/bea.../things-…

"The snow is blinding, fluorescent white. Olive, not quite four, squints to watch a middle schooler descend the hill, staring like he’s in the circus." -from "Late February" this week's Beautiful Things essay by Sarah Hare Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"You could hear them calling, cries reverberating between black November treetops and low-hanging pewter clouds. Reedy honks, voices from the far north..." -from “November Geese," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Kit Carlson Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"I placed two tangerines on the yellowing Formica table separating us. They oozed a floral aroma, momentarily masking the acrid hospital smell." -from “Peel, Pith, And All," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Edith-Nicole Cameron Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"I imagine him, eighteen in his dorm, tamping out butts and laughing through smoke over cards as he perfected his bridge game and became his own man." -from “Ashtray," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Deb Werrlein Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

"I think about God a lot because I think all ex-Catholics do. That means I think a lot about sin, and also about death." -from “Autobiography on the Eve of My Thirtieth Birthday," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Melanie Ritzenthaler Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

We're so proud to publish this micro essay, Elaine. We think you tied everything together so beautifully. 😉

Thanks for the shout out, @awpwriter! 13 more days until the October 31st deadline. Spooky. 👻🧙‍♀️🎃

"Below deck, musty with summer, a woman in a wilted white bonnet guides my hands through the motions: loop, cross, pull." -from “Knot Theory," this week's Beautiful Things essay by Elaine Edwards Read the rest: riverteethjournal.com/beautiful-thin…

@The_Rumpus launches a new longform essay from @riverteeth editor, @BallStateCW professor, & @UnivNebPress writer @jill_christman about Skylab's fall, the secrets we keep, the first spiders in space, & the connections we weave to stay alive.