In the Dark: Your Darkest AWP Confessions (Picture Unrelated)

This year at AWP, to celebrate our In the Dark-themed issue, we asked you all to write down your darkest secrets and put them in our confession box. And confess you did! We got all manner of extramarital affairs, accidental cat-killings and previously unheard of bedroom kinks. We wanted to just scan the notecards in, as seeing it in writing (plus with the occasional doodle) was so affecting, but we do not want to endanger your anonymity, so here we’ll share our favorites and ones we feel are most relevant to Hayden’s Ferry Review, though let it be known that we do not necessarily support or condone the actions described.

“I write fiction secretly. (Signed, a poet.)”

“I am working on my thesis with the man I love. My boyfriend doesn’t know.”

“I photocopied someone’s thesis and sent it to everyone I know to make fun of.”

“Peter Turchi’s shirts.”

“I submit to lit mags without reading them.”

“One time I sneezed onto the buffet line pizza at Cici’s.”

“The boy in the bowtie was the cutest.” (That was probably our editor, Sam Martone. He is flattered.)

“I peaked.”

And finally: “I don’t know if I want to be a writer anymore.” We here at Hayden’s Ferry Review do hope you’ll reconsider!

Thanks to all who participated! Maybe we will post more in the future. Winners of our raffle should hear from us next week! We’ll be giving away subscriptions, an original proof of issue 51 and much more!