Kevin Phan

Fledgling

After Michael Dumanis

Rinse burns with vinegar.
Blueprints are useless.

Try to dodge that which would
cleave you in a heartbeat.

When clutching a live wire
wear work gloves & hope.

While your boots are steel-toed
nothing will save you.

Take each flower as a reminder
you’re in for a dusty future.

Do not play with yourself
in the shower.

Do not launch hot clusters
of swearwords.

Leave luscious Bianca alone;
her clutch is sharp & rough.

Never practice prostrations
at the Temple of Longing.

Do not confuse
vice grips for crescent wrenches,

caffeine for enlightenment,
a tribe of rainbows for help.

Do not snapshot the temples.
Do not leave unlocked the front gate.

You will grow cuts.
You will seek bandages & gauze.

You will fail to mend in time.
You will grow new cuts.

When you enter the bathhouse
& discover a razor blade in each palm

then you will learn
the sound ivy makes

as it turns to crystals
in your dreams.

Wake up naked & bright
for all the world to see

& bury your sad pilgrim heart
though each heart is make-believe.

The version of Kevin Phan’s “Fledgling” that appears here supersedes the one that was published in the print edition of Subtropics 19.

Interviews

Pamela Murray Winters

Interviewed by Sarah Grigg

One of your blogs says that you write “poems, or ideas of poems, or poem-like material.” How would you define “poem-like material”?

Interviews

Paul Theroux

Interviewed by Heather Peterson

This fictional piece reminded me of your article “Nurse Wolf,” published in The New Yorker in 1998. What precipitated your decision to revisit this story fourteen years later? What, in the story, is similar to the article and what is different? How does writing about this experience so many years later change the way you view the subject matter?

Interviews

Emma Smith-Stevens

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Emma Smith-Stevens

Interviewed by Chloe Lane

Illness and war are your subjects for “Some Ongoing Etc.” and your previous Subtropics publication “Parachutes,” respectively, yet your stories are full of humor. Can you talk a little about how important humor is to your writing?

Interviews

Bennet Sims

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Bennet Sims

Interviewed by Amy Scharmann

This story was originally one of several fables, all of which are from a young boy’s perspective and involve a particular object as a trigger for larger reflection or meditation. How do you feel about “The Balloon” as a stand-alone piece? Did you see this as a possibility?

Interviews

Maggie Shipstead

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Maggie Shipstead

Interviewed by Sabrina Jaszi and Carrie Guss

Your story in Subtropics 13, “In the Olympic Village,” takes a look at the more fallible, vulnerable side of Olympic athletes. What sports, teams, or athletes drew you to this subject? If there were an Olympics where anything in existence could be considered a sport (speed-reading, pea-eating, etc.), what would your “sport” be?

Interviews

Bernard Quiriny

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Bernard Quiriny

Interviewed by Edward Gauvin

Regarding “A Guide to Famous Stabbings,” did you know how the story would end when you began?
As usual, no. One has the impression short stories are sufficiently short that writers know their endings before starting out—that in fact they must know—but in reality this isn’t always the case. An idea for an ending often comes along in the process of composition—that, or an idea other than the one you had in mind comes along and proves superior. Ah, the mysteries of writing…

Interviews

Kevin Prufer

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Kevin Prufer

Interviewed by Laura Deily

I’m interested in the way writers come about themes, especially for a book length collection of poems. I noticed that many of your poems in National Anthem seem to have political undertones (or at least are very suggestive of war), as well as “Recent History” in Subtropics 10. I was wondering how you came to write about this theme? And did you have a certain way of approaching it?

Interviews

Liz Prato

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Liz Prato

Interviewed by Magdalen Powers

Most people I know from Portland are actually from somewhere else. Are you from somewhere else? If so, what brought you to the rainy city? If you’re a native, what keeps you there?

Interviews

Kevin Phan

December 29, 2016

Interviews

Kevin Phan

Interviewed by Elaina Mercatoris

Your poem Fledgling, featured in Subtropics Issue 19, features various warnings and consequences in the form of commands or statements, as shown in the lines, “Do not leave unlocked the front gate. / You will grow cuts.” What inspired the poem and how did you choose this structure to convey it?

Morris Collins

Brad Felver

Issue 36/37 Spring/Summer 2025

Sylvie Baumgartel

Experience Subtropics

Interviews

Kevin Phan

Fledgling

Interviews

Pamela Murray Winters

Interviewed by Sarah Grigg

Interviews

Paul Theroux

Interviewed by Heather Peterson

Interviews

Emma Smith-Stevens

Interviewed by Chloe Lane

Interviews

Bennet Sims

Interviewed by Amy Scharmann

Interviews

Maggie Shipstead

Interviewed by Sabrina Jaszi and Carrie Guss

Interviews

Bernard Quiriny

Interviewed by Edward Gauvin

Interviews

Kevin Prufer

Interviewed by Laura Deily

Interviews

Liz Prato

Interviewed by Magdalen Powers

Interviews

Kevin Phan

Interviewed by Elaina Mercatoris