Exploring Communal Living and Its Portrayal in A Lot of People Live in This House
Having lived communally for many years now, I’m always pleasantly surprised when people respond with fascination when I tell them that I...
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Bailey Merlin
Bailey Merlin
- Dec 1, 2022
- 1 min
Poem #33
Striped I fell from a dock in the summer, split my hand open like a ripened fig, blood drip-dropping to ruddy the waves while I gulped...
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Bailey Merlin
- Nov 9, 2022
- 2 min
Life Update: The Big One
This year has already been so busy. Marriage. Grad School. Research Project. Promotion. And now, at last, I can put my dream on that...
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Bailey Merlin
- Oct 20, 2022
- 2 min
The Postcard; The Tiny Window
With school in full swing, creative writing has taken a back seat outside class. However, readings about illness narratives have...
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Bailey Merlin
- Sep 9, 2022
- 1 min
Poem #32
Dry Socket I’m bad at being an invalid, so I keep angel teeth in my pocket and crunch them up into dust so I can commune with the dead...
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Bailey Merlin
- Aug 4, 2022
- 1 min
Poem #31
Double Helix Breakdown She’s waiting for spiders to crawl from her fingernail ridges and ride into battle, feeling their history as they...
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Bailey Merlin
- Jul 7, 2022
- 3 min
June Writing Challenge, pt. 2
Creative pursuits are a practice, and you have to show up for them or they won’t show up for you. Last month, I made sure to answer a...
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Bailey Merlin
- Jun 16, 2022
- 3 min
June Writing Challenge
For the month of June, I’ve challenged myself to answer one prompt out of 642 Things To Write About. So far, so fine. Writing short form...
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Bailey Merlin
- May 15, 2022
- 1 min
Publication Alert
My flash fiction piece “Wellspring Wandering” was published by Bait/Switch, which is a unique journal because it is intensely...
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Bailey Merlin
- Apr 21, 2022
- 7 min
Madonna & Child, Delayed
Her knee jiggles. Incessant anxious energy has made its home in her veins, moving through her as steadily as blood. Today, though, the...
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Bailey Merlin
- Mar 3, 2022
- 3 min
The Least
For Paul Farmer: You lived a life full of good works. Though you now rest, your work lives. Thank you. The young man who lives above the...
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Bailey Merlin
- Feb 4, 2022
- 5 min
How I Used to Play the Cello
This is an old piece I always thought of doing something with. Looking back at it now, I’m happy to let it be. It’s been such a long time...
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Bailey Merlin
- Dec 2, 2021
- 1 min
Frank
In the attic there lives a ghoul. His name is Frank. He is not loud. He does not take up much space. He does not eat food. If you didn’t...
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Bailey Merlin
- Oct 22, 2021
- 2 min
Slivers
In Salem, there are a lot of doors. There are a lot of doors to be seen and a lot of doors to be seen by the right pairs of eyes. Not...
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Bailey Merlin
- Oct 8, 2021
- 2 min
Projects in Progress, pt. 1
Every year, the master’s students I work with at Harvard give a five-minute presentation on the work they’re doing out in the field. It’s...
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Bailey Merlin
- Aug 20, 2021
- 2 min
Walnut Street Stories, pt. 2
Madelyn sets the crossword to the side. None of the answers are right, but she still managed to make everything fit. Making yourself...
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Bailey Merlin
- Aug 6, 2021
- 2 min
Walnut Street Stories, pt. 1
Madelyn finishes The Plain Dealer’s daily crossword puzzle in thirty minutes flat. She gets up from the kitchen table for a second cup of...
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Bailey Merlin
- Jul 2, 2021
- 2 min
Poem #30
Diagnosis with the Crypt Keeper The first time I meet my psychiatrist, he asks if we’ve met before. This does not bode well. He asks...
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Bailey Merlin
- Jun 4, 2021
- 9 min
Aqua Vitae
This room has four walls, but it is also without walls, expanding past the fragile steel of my skull. A fragment of me looks at rows and...
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Bailey Merlin
- Apr 15, 2021
- 1 min
Poem #29
Hill of Beans The doughnut shop isn’t up to code; danger makes a delicious dish. Here, hello is flash-fried catfish. Go ahead, eat up,...
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