LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
You guys! Allison and Melissa have been counting down to the launch of Forget Cool’s first issue for what feels like forever, and now it’s finally here! We literally could not be more excited to share this with you. (And since we want you to have the best possible reading experience, we’ll mention that the poems are best viewed on a computer, where line breaks are preserved!)
Instead of organizing this work by genre, we leaned into our aesthetic—the teen mags of our youth—when arranging the issue. Here, you’ll find original poems (highlighted in pink) and creative nonfiction (highlighted in orange) about music, TV, movies, and more. The “bonus track” each issue will be our only reprint; as a nod to how Allison and Melissa met, we’ll republish a March Xness essay that we feel perfectly encapsulates our mission statement. (We’re open to suggestions of Xness essays to showcase in future issues!)
Reading the incredible work in Issue 1 feels as nostalgic to us as flipping through our old journals (only the writing is much, much better). To paraphrase our response to one contributor, we love the ways we can relate to the poems and essays in this issue—but we especially love the ways we can’t. These poems and essays firmly reinforce what we love about pop culture—it connects us in the most powerful ways, through nostalgia and youth and figuring out who we are, while also informing us about our different lived experiences and backgrounds. We’re so honored people shared this beautiful work with us, and we’re so proud of this issue. We hope you love it as much as we do!
I blast the Olivia Rodrigo concert in my tiny apartment by Natalie Wolf
A Million Lights, Dancing, & There You Are by Gregory Crosby
This is How You Remind Me by Courtney LeBlanc
to be seventeen again and living on nothing but music by Jill Kitchen
Ars Poetica with a Comet and Bob’s Burgers by Leah Umansky
Ars Poetica with Lemons, Curry, and Carol Burnett by Alex Carrigan
Girls in White Dresses by Kristine Langley Mahler
I Dress Up As Dr. Spencer Reid for Halloween by Liz G. Fisher
MAGNIFICENT MURACO by W. Todd Kaneko
Midnight: Watching Planet Earth by Laura Passin
RICKY STEAMBOAT by W. Todd Kaneko
Triple Sonnet for My Mother as a Real Housewife by Alex Carrigan
Cultural Literacy: Verisimilitude by Laura Passin
FINAL DESTINATION, SCHOOL BUS STOP by Sushanth Shyamsundar
The Future Was Never the Whole Issue by Kristin LaTour
I’ve been thinking about heaven and I’ve decided by Erin Keane
My love is the Coen Brothers film The Big Lebowski by Shawnte Orion
opening nights by Gary Jackson
PIRATED DVD, FRIDAY NIGHT by Sushanth Shyamsundar
Poem in Which I Watch Field of Dreams for the First Time and Can’t Stop Laughing by Leah Umansky
Space is Silent, but Fuck That by Donna Vorreyer
The Best-Dressed Pervert in the Room by Lydia Pudzianowski
Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary by Courtney LeBlanc
Bottle of Gucci RUSH by Majda Gama
Elegy for Frank-N-Furter by J.D. Isip
Insomnia Chronicles XXXIV by Erin Murphy
Insomnia Chronicles XLVIII by Erin Murphy
The Longest and Best Relationship I’ve Ever Had by Helmi Henkin
Ode to Urban Legends, Willy Wonka, and Slumber Parties by Donna Vorreyer
A Loaf of Bread, a Container of Milk, and a Stick of Butter by Kristin LaTour
Magic Mirror Gate by Cynthia Marie Hoffman
Super Mario/Duck Hunt by Luisa Muradyan
Watch the World Die: On Everclear’s “Santa Monica,” and Home, and Leaving It by Melissa Faliveno
Forget Cool 