Reading Room

Deciding to Wear an Enormous Hat

At first the idea of the hat might have been a cover-up, a need to move through the world without being seen. But down deep, I know that wanting led to it and not the other way around. The hat became a strange kind of mask, like some feathered piece, a shaman’s tool,...

How to Keep Your Day Job

Do a dry run on the bus a week before you start, at the right time of day, carrying the right amount of stuff, in the stiff uncomfortable black shoes you can’t run in. If you don’t own such shoes, buy some. Don’t get paint on them. Do a dry run on the bus a week...

2009 Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of Room's 2009 Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Non-Fiction Contest!Thank you to all who participated this year's contest. Look for first and second place winners in issue 33.1, coming to newsstands soon!Our winners for 2009:Fiction: 1st...

Identity Crisis in Reflection

Teresa lifted a stone from the beach and it spoke to her saying: “I am God.” “There was one thing which at first I was ignorant: I did not know that God was in all things, and, when He seemed to me to be very present, I thought it impossible. I could not cease...

Wells

The north sea speaks carefully around a mouthful of flints. ~ The beach is a buzzard feast, salted carnage. Miles upon miles of razor clams, caught by the headland, butterfly open under a cacophony of gulls. This is not the image you had held of this place, but it is...

Teaching an Old Dog

Every afternoon my dog takes me for a walk. We begin by getting very excited running circles of gratitude in the hallway for the mere idea of walking. Once outside, she makes me practice my lessons. Run as fast as you can for no reason. Chase things you have no hope...

Dostoevsky

He was a man unconvinced by pancakes. He said that as she licked the syrup off her fingertips, Funny, it happened all the time, though she never touched He was a man unconvinced by pancakes. He said that as she licked the syrup off her fingertips, Funny, it happened...

The End of Marriage

When snow is falling it’s possible you’ll feel listless. Snow, after all, smothers everything, street signs, garden lanterns, the sad hump of the dog buried in the yard three years ago, what you can and cannot see. When snow is falling it’s possible you’ll feel...

Behind the Glass

The honourable mention in our 2009 creative non-fiction contest, judged by Deborah Campbell. Some men go through a transition stage in their mid-thirties, settling in or moving on to something or someone new. For women, it's earlier. By their thirties they've...

2008 Contest Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winners of Room’s 2008 Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Non-Fiction Contest! We were thoroughly impressed with the quality of this year’s submissions, and extend our congratulations to all contestants for sharing your best efforts with us. Look for...

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ROOM 48.3 Rest/Unrest

In Room Magazine 48.3 Rest/Unrest, may you find rest as you engage with profound, necessary unrest.

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In ROOM 48.2 TRAVELLERS we reflect, dream, manifest. Join us in these human ways of time-travelling, from infancy to the future, through relationships and into surreal realms.

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