Recently I went to my favorite local bookstore and bought some literary journals, so I thought I’d favor you with some reviews!
Swivel is subtitled “the nexus of women and wit,” and their website says they’re interested in “smart, funny writing by smart, funny women.” Both of those phrases mean this journal should be right up my alley, and by a stroke of luck, it is!
This particular issue includes artwork and cartoons, poetry and short stories, and I was amused and entertained by many different selections. In addition, thoughts were provoked, which is always nice as well. Lauren Weedman’s “Fatty-Gay Christmas” is just as funny as the title and takes us with the narrator as she meets her new boyfriend’s family, who still love his dead wife, and Ellen Forney’s “Trapeze” is a multi-page wordless comic that was both witty and evocative. You may have read Weedman’s “Diary of a Journal Reader” in 2005′s Best American Nonrequired Reading, which made me laugh out loud. There’s also a “quick fix sestina” by Kelle Groom that prominently features doughnuts.
In conclusion, humorous work about serious subjects is difficult to do, and the writers in Swivel pull it off with grace and ease. Men who think women aren’t funny should read every issue.
