My guy “Jeff” is up. Come meet him. Much thanks to @completesentence.bsky.social for being the best and pubbing this one!! www.completesentencelit.com/post/_jeff

*raised hand emoji We publish single-sentence fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and anything that skulks between the this holy trinity.

Prayer failed; God is dead.

Guess I should have told the clerk at the corner store about my essay after all...

It's only fitting that my @marchxness.bsky.social run ends today on my dad's birthday, since his death is central to my essay, his absence animating so much of what I do creatively. Thank you all for the groundswell of support. I've got more to say to you, but first I'm hitting the showers.

30 mins left in the game and "Glycerine" is trailing by only a few votes! If you haven't voted for Jason's essay yet THERE IS STILL TIME!

Only down 17 with 14 minutes to go. If you've got anything left, put those shots up and in to Glycerine's hoop! marchxness.com#/elite8-fold...

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Still 2 hours to beat back "Brick" and send "Glycerine" to the Final Four!

I didn't start a magazine of single-sentence prose 5 years ago to help me win @marchxness.bsky.social, but right now my essay on "Glycerine" is down against "Brick." If you're part of the Comp Sent hive, VOTE my essay and "Glycerine" SADDEST! Polls close 9am PST marchxness.com#/elite8-fold...

"Brick" surged through the night and now "Glycerine" is down bad. If you've got ANY more votes in you, please help Bush beat the beast. Here's proof of Gavin Rossdale's impact on 10-year-old Jason, drawn at school under "I want to be..." marchxness.com#/elite8-fold...

"Because craving connection with others, chasing it, is how we find communion; it’s how we survive our sadness." March Xness as a form of communion. This tournament's got me thinking a lot about belief. I'll pray (and vote) for "Glycerine" tonight, just to see how it goes.

Well this is rad and sad and weird and artful and a little creepy and it’s definitely swaying my vote. The Xness cover game is really bringing it this year and I love it.

"Glycerine" vs "Brick": Two sad, pretty songs up against each other today. I've got to go with my gut on this one. And by "gut" I mean my autonomic nervous system.

Um, completely incredible, overachiever! It's hilarious to envision us writers of a certain age furiously rehearsing our musical covers all over the country.

Enjoy this video and cover that will surely stand the test of time, promoting a really strong essay in this year's @marchx.bsky.social March Sadness '90s edition competition.

this year's March Sadness competitors are doing A LOT and it's just one more reason why this community is so fun

i’m team glycerine! vote now!

Only the bleakest of beaches for March Sadness. Don't forget to VOTE GLYCERINE in today's @marchxness.bsky.social matchup! marchxness.com#/elite8-fold...

Last night I shot a music video on the blacked-out beach for my synth'd out "Glycerine" cover. Big thanks to Dave Rosman for the violin, big thanks to YOU for voting Bush on to the Final Four of @marchxness.bsky.social! youtu.be/E1DOPrrgCgg

Will Ben Folds' brick shatter my dreams of making it to the Final Four? I've got a synth'd out "Glycerine" cover on deck that begs to differ... marchxness.com#/elite8-fold...

Pardon the poor breath control, nonexistant embouchure, & sticky keys, but I think these ol gals did ok for having no interaction for over 25 years! VOTE @mfitejohnson.bsky.social / Celine Dion so all our hearts can go on & onnnnn... *takes a breath, stops the video* marchxness.com#/elite8-crow...

Sending our condolences to and appreciation of @jygravley.bsky.social and @emryal91.bsky.social for their excellent essays and deep March Sadness runs. We salute you and your work!

What whirlwind! This has been so fun and I'm delighted to have made it to the sweet sixteen. Kind of can't believe this is what has got me playing the uke again! Congratulations to @thejasonthayer.bsky.social I'm so excited to cheer for you in the next round!

MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION SWEET 16 DAY 4 FINAL SCORES: BUSH 142, Blink-182 97 ANI DIFRANCO 137, Nirvana 113 Congrats to @thejasonthayer.bsky.social & @susannadonato.bsky.social! Taking the weekend off from games; expect an announcement a little later about Next Year’s Xness Theme however!

As a sad 90s middle schooler I'd have been so stoked to hear my essay on Bush would one day resonate with future sad middle schoolers of the PNW. Great match today against @emryal91.bsky.social's moving musing on the sadness punctuating our lives. Bush v. Blink-182! marchxness.com#/sweet16-bus...

Catching up with @marchxness.bsky.social from within a house full of COVID (not me though 💪) to vote Nirvana and Bush today. It has come to my attention that Nirvana does not have enough votes. VOTE NIRVANA.

Okay so I loved "Adam's Song" as much as the next teenage millennial... But Adam snaps out of it at the end, and its message is more hopeful than sad. This round it's gotta be Bush.

My @marchxness.bsky.social bracket has my Bush essay losing to Blink-182 today. Please consider fucking up my bracket, thanks! marchxness.com#/sweet16-bus...

I know it’s not possible, but my ideal @marchxness.bsky.social Final Four™ would be Kate Bush vs. Bush, and Black Crowes vs. Counting Crows. #marchsadness

Congrats to the winners: Alanis and @lelascottmacneil.bsky.social, Cicily Bennion and Ben Folds Five, @jamcharlesworth.bsky.social and Collective Soul, and @thejasonthayer.bsky.social and Bush! We send our laurels to the defeated. You played great & will be remembered!

Super good matchup in late-night @marchxness.bsky.social action. I don't find either of these songs particularly sad, and think both essays are BANGERS. I kinda hate Bush but I like Thayer. That @erindorney.bsky.social's essay is funnier too, it got my vote: marchxness.com#/2ndround-co...

Like sketching a falling star just before it burns out, @cbiondolillo.bsky.social captures the intoxication of new love and the devastation of loss. Beautiful and absolutely gutting @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Mazzy Star (and the Little Prince and Chris). marchxness.com#/2ndround-fo...

Another March Sadness thesis, this time from @thejasonthayer.bsky.social: "[C]raving connection with others, chasing it, is how we find communion; it’s how we survive our sadness." marchxness.com/2ndround-col...

My @marchxness.bsky.social essay on how a shirtless Gavin Rossdale saved my life faces off against Paula Cole and all of her furry sons. @erindorney.bsky.social nails the sadness of heteronormativity and I'm shaking in my (decidedly not cowboy) boots. marchxness.com#/2ndround-co...

It's time for "smooth pea gravel spread across the playground" vs "seven rounds of yippee-yi yippee-ya’s" @marchxness.bsky.social

Got some big second-rounders today tipping off! Games are live. Will the Cinderella stories continue for Des'ree and Mazzy? Cole vs Bush is a coin flip. Will a pissed-off Morissette take down Bonnie Raitt? You decide. Games on now at marchxness.com. Vote by 9am AZ time 3/13

Inexplicably, I'm not the only Xness competitor whose essay features my hometown, "the Jersey Shore of the Oregon Coast." Emily Podwoiski's essay on Des'ree's "I'm Kissing You" examine's love's beauty & brutality, its ability to levitate us, & to break us apart marchxness.com#/1stround-go...

FINAL SCORES DAY 1: Celine Dion 178, Silver Jews 83 Neutral Milk Hotel 164, Annie Lennox 61 Bush 158, Fiona Apple 77 Ani Difranco 153, Wallflowers 79 Congrats to the winners, and we salute the defeated. Shout out to Samuel Rafael Barber, @ronhogan.bsky.social, Drew Krewer, and Kimberly Nelson

Such a good essay about a song I liked at the time but that @thejasonthayer.bsky.social transforms into a bigger story about boyhood and sadness and society. Also, fuck that gym teacher. @marchxness.bsky.social

A great @marchxness.bsky.social pairing: both essays note a correlation between sadness and, um, coercive doctrinaire religiosity. Lots of good stuff here—I'm esp digging @thejasonthayer.bsky.social's "a song about instability, clearly written by a stable person" & Drew's use of Amos' "Mr. Zebra."

Bush was the baby thrown out with the post-grunge bathwater. Mid-late 90s alternative wasn't all bad! This was my favorite song of theirs as a kid, and Jason Thayer does it justice. "Gavin Rossdale’s moan is smooth pea gravel spread across the playground" marchxness.com#/1stround-bu...

only a few essays in and have already cried about 5 times…hell yeah

Don’t let the days go by without reading my @marchxness.bsky.social essay on life as a ‘90s sad boy, aching to be beautiful and charismatic Gavin Rossdale, crooning “Glycerine” shirtless in the rain as a sea of sweaty MTV Spring Breakers sing along to yr heartbreak. marchxness.com#/1stround-bu...

Oh. My. God. With the last pull.

Offering a 2027 Top 3 Protected @marchxness.bsky.social pick, a 2028 pick swap, and an unprotected 2029 pick for a 2026 March Sadness pick.

Just, basically, refreshing the @marchxness.bsky.social feed for the rest of the day.

"An eel-man follows me out of the sushi restaurant asking where I am delivering the oversized platter of unakyu rolls..." The holy trinity of betrayal, spite & shame bubble beneath slabs of unagi in @clinforth.bsky.social breathless & surreal breakup story. www.completesentencelit.com/post/eelfare