The Gorko Gazette

BEST OF THE GORKO 2024

What a year for humor, poetry, short fiction, CNF, one-panel cartoons, bakelakus, spandex, sequins, opium chic, grunge kids, laceless shoes, Walker Texas Ranger, rom-coms, Cranberries, Roxbury Guys, X-Files, and fruit roll-ups! Oops no, that was 1993. But ALMOST all of those things were indeed served up at the literary buffet called The Gorko Gazette in 2024. Clumsy boys, chatbots, and Misters Banana vied for your attention, Brother Ethernans pulled mercilessly at your heartstrings, John Kuceras popped their head in, like turtles, Lemons Reilly spooned out free advice, Mitches flubbed movie reviews, and Professor Stout (the one and only) churned out his angsty verse like there was no tomorrow. But the real gift of 2024 was the creative work submitted to this space by more than 75 contributors: humor, short fiction, CNF, poems, and more.

This is a big thank-you to everyone who helped make The Gorko what it was this year. Below you will find several lists of our favorite pieces from 2024, beginning with our Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize award nominees. Obviously those were among our very favorites, so we have stuffed the EDITORS’ CHOICE stockings with other work we wish to acknowledge. These are listed chronologically, from January to present. The READERS’ CHOICES are based on the top clicks of 2024.

2025 PUSHCART NOMINATIONS

Jacques’ boat was the Calypso by Nate Belisle
My Eighth Year by Bruce Gee
Machine Gun Kelly by Tempest Miller
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram by Karol Nielsen
the parrot motel by M.P. Powers
Summer, 1975, Speedway, Indiana by Grant Vecera

2024 BEST OF THE NET NOMINATIONS

‘All Roads’ by Donna Dallas
‘Palm Sunday’ by Bruce Gee
‘Diatribe of Deceit’ by Peter Magliocco
‘The Jewel of a Lone Tobacco Stick’ by Kushal Poddar
‘Breaking Out’ by Bruce Reisner
‘AN ODE TO JERKIN AND JERKIN OFF, A JADED JOURNEY SPENT JERKIN OFF, OR JUST ‘JERKIN OFF’, IF THAT’S YOUR THING’ by G.M.H. Thompson
‘Of the Blue Evening’ by Mehreen Ahmed
‘New York City Mayor Ed Koch Will Work out the Details Later’ by Robert Fromberg
‘In the Changing Room’ by Antoine Bargel
‘The Last Five (Six) Women I’ve Known, described as if They Were Literary Plots, Followed by The Thoughtful Edits of Those Plots by the Last Five (Six) Women I’ve Known’ by Steve Passey

READERS’ CHOICES

Margaret Atwood’s First (and Last) Speed Dating Night by Colette Tennant
Wandering Confusion: A book review by Hugh Blanton
‘Trying to Sleep’ by Bo Ransom
‘Pinched’ and 3 others by Ken Kakareka
2 poems by Leigh Doughty

EDITORS’ CHOICE: HUMOR

‘is this neighborhood infiltrated by communists?’ by Zane Zog
‘Dostoevsky Has a Seizure Pitching Headlines to the Russian Messenger’ by Jon Doughboy
‘Blood Elves: For the Honour of Gladiswiel II’ review by Trixie McCarbre by Zoe Davis
what the poets are doin’: 5 poems by dirt hogg sauvage respectfully
‘Glitter for President’ by Bruce Reisner
‘And Such Small Portions’ by Lion Summerbell
‘Your Boss Used the Word Hollibobs’ and more news from the front by Benjamin Macnair
Who’s Sorry Now by Steen W. Rasmussen
‘Thanks for the Invite, But I Really Don’t Think This is Appropriate’ – Satan, Summoned to a Girls’ Sleepover Via a Ouija Board by Corey Pajka
School Administrators Missed Warning Signs of Lego DREAMZzz Set Snuck Onto Campus in Student’s Backpack by Liz Lydic

EDITORS’ CHOICE: POEMS

Poems by Benjamin Drevlow
5 Bakelakus by Tohm Bakelas
‘Burning Birds & Fiery Jets: Mayday Mayday Mayday is French for Help Me’ by Bob King
‘Those Invisible White Flowers Bloom Somewhere’ by Kushal Poddar
Poems by Michael Lee Johnson
3 poems by John Zedolik
‘Nostalgia’ by Bhanusree S. Kumar
Poems by John Grey
Poems by Peter Mladinic
Poems by William Taylor Jr.
‘The Reverie Of Rene Magritte’ by Lynn White
Poems by John Davis
Poems by Matt Dennison
‘If I were investing’ by Mark Parsons
‘After I Read Anne Carson I Know My Life is Wrecked’ by Damon Hubbs
2 poems by M. Benjamin Thorne

EDITORS’ CHOICE: FICTION

‘Retirement Speech’ By Bob Gielow
‘Girls and Cars and Songs About Loneliness, Songs About Love’ by Steve Passey
‘THUMB PICKER’ by Anthony Neil Smith
‘Sin Eater Stan’ by JD Clapp
Liberace Pollock Sandwiches by Theodore Wallbanger
Make It a Double and You Can Have New York by Alex Rost

EDITORS’ CHOICE: ART

Collages by Irina Tall
Art by Anthony Acri
‘Sin Eaters Love Women Who Pray Over Bones’ and 2 more by Mark Blickley

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