I'm back from attending Can-Con 2018 in Ottawa and figured I'd officially announce that I've made my first story sale. Hurrah! "The Pilgrim's Yoke" is the story of a pilgrim who seeks the waters of life and is refused. I wrote it as a sort of deconstruction of the hero's journey, while building on my …
Category: Published Work
“In the Ruins of Shambhala”
My flash fiction story "In the Ruins of Shambhala" has appeared on 600 Second Saga.
“Anticlimax”
My most recent poem to be published was printed in Read this Dammit!'s January edition: "Janus: God of the Gateways." You can pick up a copy on McGill campus in the news racks in the Leacock Building or at the MacLennan Library. I am quite happy that I was able to read it at the …
“Ice Breaker”
Last Monday, the Fall edition of the McGill student literary journal STEPS was published, with my poem in it! . It's a reflection on arctic blizzards and hallucination--seeing things in randomness when there's no one else around to contradict you. . Bonus marks: Can you spot the allusions to Frankenstein and Don Quixote? If you …
The Beets
Nothing like a good pun to lighten the mood on a Friday evening--or a Monday morning ... whenever you happen to read this. Fairly self-explanatory, but I would encourage anyone who takes a peak at this to learn more about the Beat Generation. Ever put some Jack Kerouac in your salad? I hear it's tasty...
Vegetables of the Romantic Period
Here are simply a few humorous pictures I drew last semester for The Veg magazine, a McGill student literary magazine (not actually vegetable-themed, but that's kind of a running joke...) You will recognize that the vegetables are all based on Romantic poets. Worth a laugh, I think. Kinda fits too--weren't the Romantics nature poets? Now …
Bloody Caesar; or The Ides of March
Several years ago, I wrote an experimental short story: the assassination of Julius Caesar told from the perspective of his blood. I'm still quite proud of it, and I thought I'd share it with you here. A nice short story that de-familiarizes the familiar, it was originally published online at the SPACE website, an arts-sciences …
“What Walmart Smells Like”
Being forced through the automatic doors of a Walmart one evening last winter with my family, I decided to deconstruct the experience of the torture that is globalized shopping by paying close attention to the most potent, yet misunderstood of the five senses. I hope you enjoy this post, as a break from my usual …
“I See You Too”
After years of trying, I have finally published a decent poem in one of the McGill campus literary journals! And, this is my first poem ever published, perfectly suited (by coincidence, actually) for the Valentine's edition of Read this, Dammit!, the publication of the Paper's Edge creative writing group. I really lucked out on this …
Matthew Rettino 