Mouth

Consumption drives everything, and what we do with our mouths reveals the hidden depths of our desires. MOUTH delves into the American obsession with consumption and the many ways we try to fill our emptiness. In these ten stories, characters are forced to face who they truly are when their hunger cannot be satisfied.

In "Hunger," a newlywed desperate for motherhood secretly battles infertility and anorexia, while her husband trains as a competitive eater. "Fever" follows two siblings who, after losing their mother to alcoholism, cope with grief and addiction-one as a pearl diver in the Tennessee River, the other through gin. "Casualties of the Vainglorious" portrays a father and son navigating divorce and unemployment amid a tense Monopoly tournament. In "The Ovation," a rodeo clown sabotages his best friend, a gold-buckle cowboy, as their partnership nears its end. A long-married couple grapples with fidelity and duty on their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary in "A Step Ahead of the Alligator."

"Climate Change" tells the story of a vengeful car accident victim who manipulates his immobility to control his wife. In "You and Your Cold Soviet Heart," an outdoorsman must choose between unwanted fatherhood with his pregnant fiancée or a seemingly simpler life with a mail-order bride. "Birds of Paradise" exposes the shocking depths of a woman's romantic obsession with her best friend during a medical crisis. In "Refrain," a jazz pianist risks everything to indulge in his darkest secret. And in "Jenny," a voiceover artist wagers her happiness by publicly embracing life as a mermaid.

Perfectionism, alcoholism, infidelity-MOUTH asks, who are we when we hunger?

Author: Kerry Donoghue
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Published: 01/21/2025
Pages: 216
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.49d
ISBN: 9781963115314

About the Author
Donoghue, Kerry: - Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles during the '80s and '90s meant Kerry Donoghue spent her childhood roaming through malls. Speedwalking laps with her grandma. Trick-or-treating. Secretly kissing boys. Getting clocked while working the holiday rush. Watching where people shopped, how they dressed, and what they ate set off her fascination with consumption, a forever theme in her writing. Her poetry and stories have appeared in Ninth Letter, Painted Bride Quarterly, Permafrost, The Louisville Review, and The South Carolina Review, among other journals. She also wrote The Loudest Voice of All, a children's book, to fundraise for an organization that educates girls about the power of voting. She earned an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. You can find her in the Bay Area, eating crunchwraps by the sea, where she lives with her family and, sadly, no good malls. Get to know her at www.kerrydonoghue.com.