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Emma Chan

enchanted

November 24, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Emma Chan

in the dark, i find a new boy’s tongue in my mouth like the searching hand

of a clock: the witching hour, the rhythm of his hips, magic

against mine. sweat pools at his nape, soaking his dress shirt,

but i grip a handful of hairs, pulling his sour heat into my palm.

when he tucks his name into my ear, the syllables bounce from me

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Emma-Chan.jpg 1920 1440 Emma Chan https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Emma Chan2023-11-24 11:48:072023-12-05 22:22:41enchanted
Edward Daschle headshot

I Hope So, I’m Working on It, We’ll See

October 20, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Edward Daschle

“When did you start climbing?” Evgeniy asked me while we lay in his bed after showering together. One of the things that kept me coming back to him was how he liked to clean up immediately after we were done. He did not linger in filth.
“Come with me next time I go,” I said instead of answering, taking on the active voice to combat the antisocial, post-coital placidity.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Author_Picture_Edward_Daschle.jpeg 600 450 Edward Daschle https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Edward Daschle2023-10-20 11:45:452023-10-20 11:45:45I Hope So, I’m Working on It, We’ll See

Exercise

September 11, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Cecilia Savala

Exercise: v. middling, meddling, 500 years ago—To put into action. Circa 1340: to raise from the dead. Circa 1729: to exercise one’s tongue. To practice one’s genius. To exercise one’s pipes. To bring to bear. Circa 1738, of Psalms and Hymns. A prompt of no serious exchange—except one’s rights. Take advantage of property laws. Speak out. Hear me out: i.e. to exercise power.

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Isabel Yap Headshot

LitDish: Ten Questions With Isabel Yap

September 1, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Interviewed by Gail Vannelli

Isabel Yap is a Filipino writer of fiction and poetry. Her debut short story collection, Never Have I Ever (Small Beer Press, 2021), contains thirteen unique and extraordinary stories based on Filipino culture, history, traditions, legends, and mythology. Full of monsters, magic, and miracles, each story has its own touches of fantasy, horror, mystery, and/or hope that will keep readers enthralled.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Isabel-Yap.jpeg 1412 1376 Interviewed by Gail Vannelli https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Interviewed by Gail Vannelli2023-09-01 12:37:292023-09-01 12:37:29LitDish: Ten Questions With Isabel Yap
Laurie Granieri Headshot

Pawing the Ground

July 23, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Laurie Granieri

The year I turn 9, my father hurls a telephone across the kitchen. My dad has just received news of a friend’s death from brain cancer. I suspect he figures the receiver might as well die too, and wound the kitchen on its way out. By the time he is shoved up against his own cancer diagnosis, 17 years later, my father is too weak to weaponize telephones.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Laurie-Granieri-headshot-rotated.jpg 1544 1160 Laurie Granieri https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Laurie Granieri2023-07-23 12:39:522023-07-25 09:30:39Pawing the Ground
Isabel Quintero Headshot

LitDish: Ten Questions With Isabel Quintero

May 26, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Interviewed by Gail Vannelli

Young Adult is a privilege. When you write for them you have to be hopeful because your audience still has a lot of living to do. When a kid reads my work I feel lucky that they read my words, that they entered a small world I created for a little bit.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Isabel_Quintero-scaled-1.jpg 1707 2560 Interviewed by Gail Vannelli https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Interviewed by Gail Vannelli2023-05-26 10:16:252023-06-12 22:59:36LitDish: Ten Questions With Isabel Quintero
Hannah Garner Headshot

Chop Day

May 19, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Hannah Felt Garner

It was a sluggish day at the salon. Raining outside; a Saturday. The boss lady was on edge all morning, going on about the taxi strikes and the Arab grocer up the street. “Mariana!” she snapped at me twice while tugging a boar-bristle brush through a woman’s gray bob. She doesn’t like when I stare out the storefront window, gnawing at my cuticles.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Headshot_HFGarner.jpg 770 794 Hannah Felt Garner https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Hannah Felt Garner2023-05-19 11:48:052023-06-12 22:54:06Chop Day
David A. Robertson

Litdish: Ten Questions With David A. Robertson

April 28, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Interviewed by Gail Vannelli

I write for children and young adults because I see in them the greatest capacity for change. And that’s what we need in this country and in this world. We need informed youth who can take action that will build better communities. The level of ignorance in today’s society is astounding, and a lot of that has to do with what we had—or did not have—available to us to learn from when we were growing up.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/7722CAC2-6115-409D-A317-A768C6903639.jpeg 2018 2038 Interviewed by Gail Vannelli https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Interviewed by Gail Vannelli2023-04-28 10:13:482023-04-28 10:13:48Litdish: Ten Questions With David A. Robertson
Headshot of Mariah Gese

Burying a Doll on the Beach with Your New Girlfriend

April 21, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Mariah Gese

I met Lia in an ad for her Haunted Doll Hotel. I suppose I didn’t meet her, but her personality was clear:

YOU’RE SEARCHING FOR A HAUNTED DOLL COMPANION.

THESE ARE MY HOURS: WKNDS, 8 P.M. / 4 A.M.

PINE BARRENS. FOLLOW SIGNS.

She was right, and I wasn’t busy, so I drove down there.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/1A81E45F-72AB-4251-95CD-07CC2A93E8F2.jpeg 2315 2048 Mariah Gese https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Mariah Gese2023-04-21 12:07:092023-04-21 12:07:09Burying a Doll on the Beach with Your New Girlfriend
Lisa Quintana Headshot

Litdish: Ten Questions with Lise Quintana

March 31, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Interviewed by Gail Vannelli

For twenty plus years, Lise Quintana has worn numerous writing-related hats: author, editor, publisher, book reviewer, educator, and more. She’s the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Zoetic Press, which publishes cutting edge short-form literature. Zoetic is the home of the award-winning journal NonBinary Review and the fiction and poetry podcast Alphanumeric.

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Lise-Quintana-headshot.jpg 500 500 Interviewed by Gail Vannelli https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Interviewed by Gail Vannelli2023-03-31 11:21:262023-04-01 10:42:50Litdish: Ten Questions with Lise Quintana
Jemma Leigh Roe Headshot

On Such a Full Sea Are We Now

March 17, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Jemma Leigh Roe

At the beach house, Mama cooked whole crabs alive.

Through the steam, we watched them slowly seize up

and stiffen like the dead fish that washed ashore

the day you cut your foot on shattered glass.

When sand stuck to your weeping wound, I couldn’t clean it

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/JLR.jpeg 1204 1042 Jemma Leigh Roe https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Jemma Leigh Roe2023-03-17 11:55:192023-03-20 12:27:25On Such a Full Sea Are We Now
Cammy Thomas Headshot

The Russian Train

February 24, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Cammy Thomas

the Russian train runs on only time

bones come from its exhaust pipe

we twirl our black umbrellas

and there is no dream

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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/06BA84B9-9FF6-4D6C-97E3-9F02075E851D.jpeg 2042 1609 Cammy Thomas https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Cammy Thomas2023-02-24 14:30:592023-02-24 11:40:48The Russian Train

Amuse-Bouche Archive

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Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published the second Friday of every month.

Today’s course:

Meeting My Child Self at the Trauma Play

May 9, 2025/in Blog / Gale Naylor
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Gale-Headshot-01July2024.jpg 1791 1587 Gale Naylor https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Gale Naylor2025-05-09 11:55:262025-05-11 09:48:03Meeting My Child Self at the Trauma Play

Products of Our Environment

March 14, 2025/in Blog / Mitko Grigorov
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Mitko_Grigorov.jpg 378 300 Mitko Grigorov https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Mitko Grigorov2025-03-14 11:00:082025-03-31 11:51:57Products of Our Environment

Mother-to-Mother: An Open Letter about White Privilege and Fragility

November 22, 2024/in Blog / Dr. Valerie Nyberg
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Midnight Snack

Take a bite out of these late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

Dig Into Genre

May 23, 2025/in Midnight Snack / Lauren Howard
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The dreams in which I’m (not) dying

April 25, 2025/in Midnight Snack / paparouna
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On The Map

March 28, 2025/in Midnight Snack / Ariadne Will
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School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

May 12, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Brendan Nurczyk
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A Communal Announcement

April 28, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Isabella Dail
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Seventeen

April 14, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Abigail E. Calimaran
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More School Lunch »

Word From the Editor

The managers of Lunch Ticket all agreed that issue 26 needed to have a theme, and that theme had a responsibility to call for work relating to what we are seeing in society. We wanted a theme that resonated with Antioch University MFA’s mission of advancing “racial, social, economic, disability, gender, and environmental justice,” and we felt it was time to take a stand…

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