de/composition

Winter 2025 Web Edition Live

For this issue, we invited our writers to send us work that sees, in decay, something new; work that, in content, in form, in spirit, decomposes as a way to recompose.

We asked to see the flies gather, the ants lick the wet bones bare. We asked to see compost heaps as new seeds crack inside, landfills where night dogs strafe like dreams through plastic. We asked for the dead, the ash mixed with glitter. And so, our writers, those lowly midwives and pallbearers, gave us this: What jewelry studs the wounded taxidermy!

This graveyard full of flowers unfolds its blooms toward you. Mind the graves, shut the gate, take your trash, and more than anything: Come in, come in, come in.

—Michael Hurley, Web Editor

Ninth Letter Literary Awards are now open for submissions!

Winners in each genre receive $1,000 + publication. All U.S. entrants receive a free one-year print subscription.
Literary Awards Info

Submit to the REVERSAL web edition now!

Check out full guidelines and submit before we hit our cap of 325 submissions per genre.
Reversal Guidelines