Review: Juked

A Review of Juked

By Angela Nickels

When I began to tackle this assignment, I thought it would take me forever to find a journal that I like. It seems every journal I have read, there are only a few pieces that I like and a few that I think are extremely strange. To be honest, I was actually dreading this assignment a little. But much to my surprise, the opposite happened. I went online to the list of journals that we looked at for class and began to skim through them. I glanced at the first few under “New and Featured” and saw the title Juked. It had an interesting picture beside it, so I clicked on it to see what they published then went on to check out the website. Right when I saw the home page, I knew I was going to write about this journal. I felt a bit guilty thinking that. I mean, what if I had looked on and found something even better? After exploring a bit further, though, I knew I was making the right choice.

Juked is an independent journal that runs only on donations, begun in 1999. Their online journal updates new publications daily, and they also publish a print issue annually. Submissions accepted include poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and photography; however, they are open to any form of work. The guidelines are nonspecific and only seem to mention a word count limit, giving the author a lot of flexibility and able to submit anything.

The home page for the online journal is what first caught my attention. The right hand side shows one of the photographs submitted that turns into a water mark behind the newly published works. The picture and the works are both in the same sized column, almost adding equal value to all that they accept. The works on the left side are listed in chronological order with the newest at the top. Reading through these works, one finds that they are not listed as either a poem or prose. Instead, they have a word or short phrase that describes what the topic is for the work, like the work titled “The Collector” has the description 'knick knacks' and “it is November and” has 'zodiac' (the tab at the top for photography is even titled “moment”). I loved this idea and thought it was very creative. It did make it frustrating when I wanted to read specifically a prose piece, but is the goal to read only by topic and not have to worry about form? The 'archive,' however, does list out what the form of each piece is, so I visited there to find more specific items.

The works that I read added to the uniqueness of the journal. Each one seemed to contain a deeper meaning that one had to contemplate, which is what I really enjoy and look for when I read. The first work I read was a fiction piece title “Chess Over Royal Street: A Love Story” by Jessica Kinnison. As opposed to a usual short story, this was broken into very short, usually fragmented, sentences, and divided into paragraphs after each topic was discussed. The first sentences, “The pre-dawn piano player in the corner practicing. The wrong notes. A buzzing. The fruit flies on the windows. The singing tile floor and the blue painted stars on every other tile. The lost beans and the baseboards” read as if one is sitting in the room taking notes to the things surrounded her. The shortness of each sentence add a rushed and anxious feel, almost as if someone is gasping for air. As the piece continues in this fashion, each idea almost appears to be unrelated to the others. What does “The owner of a café. Two broken marriages and a gunshot in the 7th Ward. A bullet in water. The water in the body. Means nothing at all. To anyone” have in relation to “Headlights. A parade. Float and float and float goes down Royal Street. Wave and wave and wave from the room above the ice machine” other than the related Iko Iko and Mercedez Benz? From all of these fragmented pieces, I put together the idea of two lovers being caught being together. They live above a cafe and the life that goes on around them, and either one or both of them get shot. Perhaps this story is on a television or in a newspaper that two people playing chess hear or read. The title created these ideas for me. Of course, this story is written in a way for multiple interpretations, which I believe is fascinating. This type of story is not seen everywhere, and I am glad that they decided to publish it, showing the editors are willing to look at anything and are open to uniqueness.

Although the poetry was also fantastic and unique, I decided to focus on the short story “The Company of Ashes” by Brandon Bell. Like “Chess Over Royal Street...,” this had a deeper meaning and conflict occurring. The narrator describes a time when he and his friend, Levi, got arrested and how the two grew apart. Levi dies for an unknown reason and says in this will for the narrator and two others to spread his ashes under a certain bridge. The narrator and his two friends get lost and spend the night in their car. The meaning and conflict occur in the following events: the narrator goes into the woods for a walk and comes across an old man who has a boy handcuffed. The narrator contemplates doing something to help the boy, but ultimately does not. He then convinces the two others that a random bridge is the correct one, throws the urn, then later returns and collects “Levi” again and takes him home.

Honestly, I was frustrated with this story. I knew that there was a reason for the narrator to run into the man and boy, but I could not figure it out. He does keep mentioning that what he did was because Levi would have done it. Would Levi, then, not help the boy? I am curious to hear what the discussion was for this piece between the editors. There were many other small details throughout the story that obviously have a significance, making a story that would seem simple most definitely not. Although I was frustrated, I absolutely loved the story because of the conflict that was presented. I was reminded of Hemingway's style by only presenting the scene and having the reader interpret the underlying message. I enjoyed contemplating what it was!

The uniqueness of this journal, I believe, is what makes it great. They present works that do not follow the usual way, such as not identifying a piece by a stereotypical form. Along with the uniqueness, each piece contains a deeper and complex meaning, giving each work a certain purpose. There are very few times, in fact never, where I read several works from a journal and continually thought, “Wow! That was awesome!” I believe I will continue to visit this site and see what new works they decide to publish. 

Angela Nickels will soon be a senior working towards earning her Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in music. She looks forward to publishing books and ardently playing piano the rest of her life.