Sūdō Journal
A journal from the fringes of civilised society.
Volume 6 submissions open now!
sudojournal.com
Cover image: “Heart on a Wire“ (CC0 1.0 Universal) by Alan Levine.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 1: Blood, Sweat and Tears "The men and machines were moved out and the land the airfields sat on sold off. For many fields this was the inevitable outcome; Reid River was no different." From "A Retrospective..." by Andrew Sibley.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE "A policeman arrived just in time, yet he did not clap a single man into handcuffs. Instead he simply clapped. Elsie was dumbstruck; he had actually given the mob a round of applause." "Here on the Home Front" by Rodney Williams. sudojournal.com/burning-brid...
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 4: Touch Wood ""Honestly,” the internet sensation demanded of its audience, “haven’t you anything better to do? Read Voltaire. Read Wittgenstein. Read. Anything. You plonkers.”" From "Possum Hunt" by Jane Downing.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 3: Burning Bridges "And you, Narcissus? You will burn in those foul, dark flames. The forest pool in which you find your deeply loved reflection will evaporate in the heat." From "Risen" by Amy Windsor.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 3: Burning Bridges "She is happy for them. She is happy that their sadness and anxiety was temporary and had a fixed locus. But she is also reminded that her sadness was never their sadness at all." From "Stop the Bus and Pray for Me" by Lianda Burrows. shorturl.at/AJZSW
- We want to read your work! Submissions are now open for Sūdō Journal volume 6: "Disconnect." Submissions close June 30, 2025 for our December 2025 issue. sudojournal.com/submissions
- The sixth volume of Sūdō Journal asks what it is to disconnect in an increasingly connected world. Is it ethical to extract yourself from social and political upheaval? How can we retain our humanity if we are not connected? Is disconnection even possible?
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 3: Burning Bridges "Suddenly he hoisted the sledgehammer over his head then brought it down top of the TV with impressive force and stunning violence." From "Uncle Kev" by Peter Horgan. shorturl.at/AJZSW
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Vol 2: Hot Under the Collar "The feeling I had was akin to that feeling you get when you’re watching a movie with your parents and a sex scene comes on. It was silently, yet undeniably, awkward." "Ways of Seeing Sex" by Emma Maguire.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 2: Hot Under the Collar "A silver mask, eerily animated, in perfect repose, faces the worshippers. Serene and benign but still powerful. Enduring." From "Take Me to Church" by Tina Morganella, in Sudo Journal volume 2.
- FROM THE ARCHIVE Volume 4: Touch Wood "The tree has arms. The sky has eyes. We will drink water from the river, on the way to ourselves." From "Two Poems Translated in English with the Original in Russian" by Ivan de Monbrison, in Sudo Journal v4.
- "And the space and the heavy air / of the cabin / envelops us / with something infinite / like an insatiable / feeling of love." Read "Listening to A Moon Shaped Pool by Anton Lushankin in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "Bodies engineered for production redefine themselves through the mechanics of attachment, of the experience of palatable human emotions. The slow progression of love, artificial skin finding humanity, is an act of creation. Life is formed, captured, through deviation."
- Read "Jailbreaking" by @faith-palermo.bsky.social in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "He fumbled a large ring on which two dozen keys hung, and riffled through them like a cumbersome deck of cards. When the right key clinked inside the latch, the door swung with the ungracefulness of a dust storm."
- Read "Lord of Land" by Barlow Crassmont in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "In the brief moment of unconsciousness, the world around us is quiet, still. And when my mother wakes, the effort to see, to hear, to breathe is so immense that she contemplates, briefly, if she should let the falling snow kiss her skin into oblivion."
- Read "(In)audible: A Confession" by Mirela Cufurovic in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "I like to leave it bare as words / on a tomb, death, the place / where no one wants to follow." Read "Follow" by Nancy Anne Miller in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "The physical approach enriches this recirculation while creating space for interpretation and discussion, functioning as a distancing or defamiliarisation effect in the style of Epic Theatre."
- Read "The Body in Time: A Physical Approach to Historical Storytelling" by Todd Barty in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "Pop was the most accessible of magic spells because, like a spell, one had to repeat a string of words, and like an incantation, it worked something improbable on the body, a sensation akin to fever, an illness that sedated the brain and worked every limb to the extreme."
- Read "Hit Immunity" by @ellectric.bsky.social in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "My father has always shown his fondness for me. But then, why do I always feel like there is this hidden hate somewhere inside him, waiting to manifest toward me at the right time?" Read "My Father" by Chukwuemeka Famous in our latest volume, "Eras": buff.ly/418VcOA
- "Proudly displaying its Red Yellow Punk head / Punk attitude With black Abandoned eyes Watching" Read "Lest They Embellish a More Voluptuous Region" by Troy Walsh in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "In the era of #MeToo, stories about sexual assault and gender-based violence are receiving more media attention than ever before. But what are we meant to do with this information? What are we meant to do when every time we turn on the news we are confronted with another story?"
- Read "What Should We Do With #MeToo?" by @beeeeonka.bsky.social in our latest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "The heat and damp swirled as I stepped out of the shade of the palms. At 7 a.m. it was a thick gruel, like Satan had left the door to Hades open. This morning he’d cooked a stew of diesel and mouldy leaves and roadkill."
- Read "The Man in the Tan Shoes" by Andrew McKenna in our lastest volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "I also stare intently at every plant I pass that has bee-friendly flowers on it when I’m out and about. I can watch the neighbour’s basil for ages. My family, of course, think I’m mad. Then again, they always did, so this isn’t a new development."
- Read "B is for Bee" by Sharon Bryan in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "Are they aware of other worlds, forces / beyond their small pond – that their universe / has the security and permanence of a junk bond?" Read "The Vivarium" by Jeremy Gadd in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "As in the case of concrete (which had surrounded me particularly in my professional or workaday life as an academic), it had taken the material-affective qualities of Sydney sandstone for me to start linking biography and place; embodied experience and existential issues to do with migration . . .
- . . . and where—through decades-long place attachments and memories—I felt that I did or didn’t feel at home." Read "The Untimely “Now”: On the Crystallisation, Stretching and Shrinking of My Various Presents" by Eduardo de la Fuente in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "I had gone to his motel room that night, I had undressed, he had heaved me, up and down, my arms around his neck, like I was nothing. I liked the feeling of being nothing." Read "Transit" by BLT in our new volume "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "Last night: I am in a dream world with him. He slashes my face with a scalpel. Left to right. North to South. The soft flesh of my face is scored like a fresh mango." Read "Peach" (and check out the accompanying artwork, "Futile") by Courtney Mason in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras
- "When the angel came to reap the end of time, some children’s / parties were disrupted. To compensate, I hopped like a frog, / blew a blast on my own plastic bugle." Read "When the Angel Put an End to Time" by Andrew Leggett in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/eras/
- "Your words, your thistle seeds, blow away on the wind in mad anarchy aiming to take root." Read "Variegated, Fissiparous Animations: An Australian Writing Memoir" by Moya Costello in our new volume, "Eras": sudojournal.com/latest-issue/
- "I had heard of Pumpkin Men before, but I’d never seen one in the (lack of) flesh. He was about six foot eight though, and I felt my face go flush at receiving attention from someone so tall. Even someone with a gourd as a head." Read "The Pumpkin Man" by Kevin B in our new volume, "Eras."
- Our 2024 volume, "Eras," is now available for your reading pleasure! Thank you to all of our contributors for trusting us with your brilliant pieces - it's been such a joy to work on this issue. Read the complete volume here: sudojournal.com/eras
- Writers and poets. Have you seen my lists and Starter Packs - hundreds of writers, poets, litmags and presses. #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #Litmags LitMags bsky.app/profile/laco... Poets bsky.app/profile/laco... Writers bsky.app/profile/laco... Starter Pack #1 bsky.app/starter-pack...
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View full threadI've added you to my starter pack #2 of litmags and small presses. bsky.app/starter-pack... If you check the pinned post on my profile you'll find links to the starter packs & 3 lists - litmags, poets, writers. You can follow a list & it becomes a feed.at://did:plc:tlvg7jzrb7fx3oouewdhyxwg/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lakpbi32v325
- Thank you very much for all of your efforts in putting these together!
- if the second starter pack fills up - I'll start a third - off for a walk and will do this when I come back
- Thank you! 😊
- Okay, I'm working on a Starter Pack (and accompanying Feed) of lit mags and presses. Who's here? Who can I add? go.bsky.app/QktiLWRat://did:plc:leboaqamblgtwjjhiinlb5ds/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3larzx352722u
- We're here, and we'd love to be added! 😊
- Thank you so much for putting these together! We'd love to be included in your litmags starter pack, if there's room? We're an Aussie litmag and our fifth volume will be released in December. So wonderful to see the writing community coming together on here!
- Yay! An #Ozlit starter pack thanks to @lefasn.bsky.social!
- Gave up and made one… go.bsky.app/AqicagEat://did:plc:sjxpz6i4fsm6k3cj3l6tjsnq/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3laxikw6meg2r
- And have now added Sudo!
- Thank you! 😊
- We're here, and we have a new volume coming next month which we're so excited to share with you! In the meantime, if you're after some excellent writing you can find our previous volumes here: sudojournal.com/archive/
