POE BALLANTINE is writing a glossary of literary terms: for example, honorarium is a big word meaning “small pay.” His essay “Free Rent at the Totalitarian Hotel,” which appeared in our June 2012 issue, was selected for The Best American Essays 2013, and his new book, Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere, will be out in September. He lives in Chadron, Nebraska.

Salida

by Poe Ballantine, December 2012 (Issue 444)

Free Rent At The Totalitarian Hotel

by Poe Ballantine, June 2012 (Issue 438)

Lily In Darkness

by Poe Ballantine, August 2011 (Issue 428)

Guidelines For Mountain-Lion Safety

by Poe Ballantine, July 2011 (Issue 427)

Under The Moonflower Tree

by Poe Ballantine, November 2010 (Issue 419)

Troubled Youth

by Poe Ballantine, June 2010 (Issue 414)

They Dream By The River

by Poe Ballantine, November 2009 (Issue 407)

The Fine Art Of Quitting

by Poe Ballantine, April 2009 (Issue 400)

Cristinaland

by Poe Ballantine, November 2008 (Issue 395)

These Dark Woods

by Poe Ballantine, June 2008 (Issue 390)

Confessions Of A B-Movie Zombie

by Poe Ballantine, March 2008 (Issue 387)

The Thousand-Peso Suit

by Poe Ballantine, February 2008 (Issue 386)

Methamphetamine For Dummies

by Poe Ballantine, July 2007 (Issue 379)

Wide-Eyed In The Gaudy Shop

by Poe Ballantine, March 2007 (Issue 375)

Blessed Meadows For Minor Poets

by Poe Ballantine, October 2006 (Issue 370)

God's Day

by Poe Ballantine, September 2006 (Issue 369)

World of Trouble

by Poe Ballantine, February 2006 (Issue 362)

Brasalina

by Poe Ballantine, January 2006 (Issue 361)

My Pink Tombstone

by Poe Ballantine, November 2005 (Issue 359)

The Irving

by Poe Ballantine, October 2005 (Issue 358)