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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 29/09/2026

Meet OKD’s Best of the Net 2027 nominees! Read the nominated pieces in the thread below.

TEXT:
Best of the Net
OKD nominees

Emily Rinkema

Chris Scott

Lynne Jensen Lampe

Daniel Lurie

Julia Ross

Danna Schmidt

Alexandra Nwigwe

Emily Wittenhagen

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A mountain landscape that is tinted sky blue is the background of this image. In the foreground is a green-foiled Sad Jack silhouette holding a trophy, and Sad Jack is being pushed up the mountain by a human silhouette. The names of the nominees are also present in the foreground.

Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 25/09/2026

“I’m up on the water / mat now, chest up— / a siren on a rock, luring— / what?” “Swimming” by Kieron Walquist, new poetry out today at OKD: buff.ly/efXDpt5

This image is a special one, folks. The background consists of a stretch of ocean, and in the center back is the TV anchor fish from SpongeBob SquarePants splashing out of the water. There are several Sad Jacks at different distances in the water, but you can only see his head, and he is tinted green. The right-hand side of the image has a rock with two blue-tinted tropical fish on top of it, and a light shines from them and onto the surface of the water. On the left-hand side of the image is a flowy fish tail, as if the rest of the fish is beyond the margin. The entire image has a plastic-wrap texture over it, as if this were a magazine. (It is. Okay Donkey is, in fact, a literary magazine.)

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 21/09/2026

Congratulations to OKD’s Best Small Fictions 2027 nominees! Read the nominated pieces in the thread below.

A mountain landscape that is tinted cotton-candy pink is the background of this image. In the foreground is a gold-foiled Sad Jack silhouette holding a gold trophy, and Sad Jack is being pushed up the mountain by a human silhouette. The names of the nominees are also present in the foreground.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 18/09/2026

“She must return to the very beginning of things. [...] Before migraines. Before she felt the need to cut her finger open on a jagged leaf. She decided that some lies were small enough not to kill her.” “Oranges” by Laura Jane Lee, new flash fiction out today at OKD: buff.ly/1JdLsqF

The background of the image shows a color-inverted, yellow-tinted photo of a glass bowl of oranges sitting on a linen table cloth. Even further in the background is a zoomed-in, red-tinted photo of the veins of a leaf. Sitting on top of one of the oranges in the bowl is, indeed, an orange-tinted Sad Jack with an orange slice over the arc of his back. Blood-orange splatters the foreground.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 14/09/2026

Please welcome new Associate Fiction Editor, Eleanor Ball (@eleanorball.bsky.social)! When it comes to her new role, Eleanor says she’s drawn to “stories with a speculative premise” and is looking forward to “spreading the Sad Jack Agenda…” Read Eleanor’s full interview at buff.ly/feKlWQ9.

“My background is in speculative fiction, so I’m drawn to stories with a speculative premise. What if you survived getting swallowed by a whale? What if you sat beside a cryptid on your next flight? For me, the most exciting speculative, surreal, and absurd fiction uses the tools of genre to interrogate the boundaries of what we imagine to be possible in our world. It pushes us to understand ourselves, our relationships, our cultures, and our institutions in a different light, clearer yet stranger.

I’m also drawn to pieces that ride the line between prose poetry and micro fiction. I love bite-sized micros that emphasize lyric, sound, rhythm, compression, and hypersensory imagery. I’m not generally a stickler for the ‘rules' of story structure. I want to read something that makes me think ‘Wow. I will never read a story like this again.’” - Eleanor Ball

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 11/09/2026

“[...] I have a trick. Like when the crazy / girlfriend shows up & throws all your records / into the street. The logic of the nonsequitur / lies in its disobedience.” “Girls to the Front” by Heather Derr-Smith, new poetry out today at OKD: buff.ly/QYTXGCZ

The background shows a grainy close-up image of a record spinning on a record player, with a cyan colored lens flare in the top left corner underneath the title of the poem. The foreground has two hot-pink female silhouettes, one solid and one filled with radiating circular lines like those in a vinyl record. In the "epicenter" of the lines in this silhouette is the yellowish head of Sad Jack.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 07/09/2026

This month’s newsletter features OKD Poetry Reader Liz Kingsley on “Poetry As Unserious Business.” Plus, an interview with one of our new Associate Fiction Editors– Eleanor Ball! Read the full newsletter at buff.ly/ORkQKok

Paper collage style-- to the right side, a cut-out donkey head wears a yellow and pink polka-dotted hat with a blue halftone cut-out of a woman's eyes overlay his, bordered by spiky pink. His angular, flannel-covered arms hold a blue book with Sad Jack alone on the cover. In the bottom center, pink halftone hands form a heart with the index fingers and thumbs.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 05/09/2026

If you’re seeing this message, that means the big Sad Jack in the sky hand-picked you to submit to OKD! Submit for free (while supplies last) at buff.ly/chQ4jpz.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 04/09/2026

“She had nightmares in which everyone but her knew the secret of who to be. In these dreams she’d walk from person to person, often familiar faces from school, begging them to tell her [...]” “Chrysalis” by Santiago Wilson Heredia, new flash fiction out today at OKD: buff.ly/SI0iDwk

The background of the image is a collage of grainy photos of countrysides, namely valleys and rivers. The foreground is made up of 80s-like translucent blocks and ovals that are colored dark magenta, blue, and green. Hanging from the top of the image and into the center is a chrysalis with water droplets on the outside. The bottom left section of the image shows a faceless woman with a happy face stamped on her head walking to the right, head down. Sad Jack stands in front of her as if leading her.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 01/09/2026

OKD is open for free subs until we reach our cap! Learn more about us and submit your best poetry or flash fiction: buff.ly/chQ4jpz Okay Donkey is always open for tip jar ($2.50) or expedited ($4.00) subs! Your contribution helps us pay our contributors and cover other mag-related expenses.

The background of this image is a faded photo of a post box outside on a cobblestone path. The box is highlighted red in the foreground and there's a photo of Sad Jack taken out of a dark red envelope coming out of the box.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 28/08/2026

“My boss killed a lamb for me. Or did I kill a lamb for the boss? So long ago, these risks to bloom in the waste of creation. Decades in which one’s title was contingent.” “Bildungsroman” by Kathleen Winter, new poetry out today at OKD: okaydonkeymag.com/2026/08/28/b...

The background is an open field for cattle grazing at dusk, dotted with bushes/small trees and round bales of hay. The foreground, the bottom half of the image, has high-contrast, pink-tinted mountains, and a bolt of pink filled with blue-purple horizontally across the top of the mountains. Also at the top is two pink-tinted lambs running left, chasing Sad Jack. The lamb leading the charge is holding a butcher knife. Sad Jack has a blue-bleeding gash on his neck and a splatter of blue blood around him.

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Dan Crawley @danbillyc.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

"The truth is, I’ve had time to think about my past, to stare it in the face. The truth is, I’ve set it adrift." My lord, a brilliant piece of writing by @belindarowe.bsky.social in @okaydonkeymag.com 💙💙💙

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 24/08/2026

We are proud to say our Poetry Editor, Erin Malone @erinmalonepoet.bsky.social, is a 2026 Poet Laureate Fellow! With a local school district, she will create and lead workshops for fourth grade students using a bilingual illustrated edition of Pablo Neruda’s "Book of Questions." Congrats, Erin! 🫏🎉

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Belinda Rowe @belindarowe.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

So stoked to be a part of the Okay Donkey family - my anticipation has been fizzing and sparkling! Many thanks to @stevexisxok.bsky.social for working with me (an incredible experience) and to the team at @okaydonkeymag.com for their awesomeness. All the loves 💚 okaydonkeymag.com/2026/08/21/s...

okaydonkeymag.com

Shall a Man That Doeth Violence Flee to the Pit? by Belinda Rowe

My beach towel floats down near a man sculpting fine white sand using a pink bucket and spade. Squinting, he says, Buongiorno, signorina, what you think of David with head of Goliath? Incredible, I…

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 21/08/2026

“[...] I can no longer fathom what is real and what is not. Have I bared my soul? Is it possible to be present and vulnerable and remain unaffected?” “Shall a Man That Doeth Violence Flee to the Pit?” by Belinda Rowe @belindarowe.bsky.social, new flash fiction out today at OKD: buff.ly/9qyxKGz

Our perspective in this image seems to be from the bottom of a canyon and we're looking up at the sky, which is tinted green, through the crevice. The walls of the canyon are tinted purple. On the right side, Sad Jack rides a magic carpet. A vase with flowers is on the bottom left edge and is pointing up toward the crevice/opening to the sky.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 19/08/2026

Introducing our new Associate Fiction Editor, Gina Thayer @ginathayer.bsky.social! When it comes to her new role, Gina says “it’s energizing to be reminded how expansive and multi-faceted flash fiction can be,” thanks to OKD’s creative submissions. Read Gina’s interview at buff.ly/l2GbmrD

"[I'm looking forward to] getting to work with really cool writers, readers, and editors! There's such a collaborative spirit at OKD, and I'm excited to spend more time with a truly thoughtful and committed team of editors and readers.

And of course, extremely brilliant writers. We do a fair amount of development work at OKD, so I'm looking forward to honing those skills to, and to hopefully offer writers useful, supportive thoughts in service of their vision.

I feel quite spoiled because OKD recieves so many creative and compelling submissions every month, and it's energizing to be reminded how expansive and multi-faceted flash fiction can be. I'm looking forward to spending more time in that delicious literary soup!

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 17/08/2026

Last month, OKD contributor Mac Crane @mcrane12.bsky.social (2018, 2020) had a short story collection come out with The Dial Press! You can check out their book, “Perverts,” at our new Bookshop affiliate link: bookshop.org/shop/okaydon...

In the center of the image is the cover of Crane's book, "Perverts," which shows a hand digging into what appears to be someone's freckled back. The background of this image leans into the yellow-green gradient from the title on the cover of the book. These colors overlay a landscape, a field with tall flowers, and tall trees in the distance. Sad Jack, who is also tinted yellow-green, has a hand for a head that's the same size as his body, and it is reaching up and touching the bottom-left corner of the "Perverts" book cover, creating a sparkle at the point of contact.

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Matt Kendrick @mattkendrick.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

"Seven holes I have seen in my life and none have answered me. There was one hole in the mountains where hawks swooped in and out, rodents dangling from their beaks" Yasmine Yu in @okaydonkeymag.com Such a wonderfully layered piece okaydonkeymag.com/2026/06/26/t...

okaydonkeymag.com

The Void is Right There by Yasmine Yu

The hole was bottomless, the hole in the girl’s yard, the hole encircled by coins. The girl reassured me that one day I would stop asking questions. Have you tried to drop a rock? YES. A rope? YES.…

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 14/08/2026

“I hover above the breaking. I am already a memory. Why call it dissociation? I call it the fixed point of light that renders our new landscape shades of decay." “META/MORPH/OSIS” by Shannon Kearns, new poetry out today at OKD: okaydonkeymag.com/2026/08/14/m...

The image is made up of red, blue, and yellow-green hues. The background which is primarily red looks like a contemporary take on a cave painting, complete with a tree and its roots and a few silhouettes of people jumping or walking. The bottom left corner has an enlarged top-down view of a moth, tinted blue. The whole length of the right side is occupied by a blue-hued stick, which has some of the phases of metamorphosis: bottom-up, the caterpillar, the cocoon, and finally, Sad Jack as a moth.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 12/08/2026

Okay Donkey now has a Bookshop affiliate page! Visit bookshop.org/shop/okaydon... & check out books by OKD contributors & staff. If you buy a book through our link, OKD will earn a small percentage, which helps us pay honorariums to staff & contributors. Thank you for all your support! 🫏

TEXT: Visit our Bookshop.org affiliate page!

IMAGE: Sad Jack stands in the foreground, in the center of the image. He is on top of an open book that is in the middle of a page-turn. The background of the image is somewhat holographic/futuristic, and includes purple and blue hues with sun flares and a crack rippling from the top left corner to the center right edge.

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Read A Little Poetry @readalittlepoem.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Day 12 of #thesealeychallenge • Our featured poet is Jackie Sherbow, whose work appeared in Okay Donkey (@okaydonkeymag.com). For the whole month of August, we'd like to put a spotlight on individual poets as well as some of our favourite lit mags.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 10/08/2026

OKD’s contributor honorariums are increasing from $20 to $25 per piece! 🌟 Okay Donkey is growing, but of course, there’s no magazine without our contributors. Thank you for being part of our weird little community. 🫏🩶

TEXT: Okay Donkey's contributor honorariums are now $25/piece!

IMAGE: A paper-collage type of background. Sad Jack is flying on a dollar bill hang glider in front of a bright red sun in the top left corner, and there are softly-shaded white paper clouds in the top right corner. The background is orange, as if the sun is setting. The "landscape" of the paper collage is made up of several pieces of paper, almost mountainous: purple, black and white striped, pink, red, and a blue spiky-sparkle in the middle of the range.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 07/08/2026

“As you say, history is the story of events with praise or blame, and I am here to present your legacy, one for which you should feel both pride and shame.” “Commencement Address to be Delivered Only to Cotton Mather” by Erin Lyndal Martin, new flash fiction out today at OKD: buff.ly/mCdPNt2

This image shows white tape against a teal solid background. A red-tinted Sad Jack and Cotton Mather's bust portrait are in the center of the image. Sad Jack is wearing a grape purple graduation cap while Mather has a purple mustache and "LOL" written on his forehead. A strip of purple runs diagonally across them with a hole shattered in it on the right side.

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Heidi Marjamäki @heidimarjamaki.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Our new website is here and it's GORGEOUS! Round of applause to the whole team, esp. Associate Poetry Editor & web developer Emily Blair, and our designer Cassey Abella 💕

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 05/08/2026

Announcing Okay Donkey’s NEW WEBSITE! 🥳 Check it out at okaydonkeymag.com And this month’s newsletter will only further your inspiration with Fiction Reader Damilola Omotoyinbo’s feature all about allowing yourself to write “the messy first draft.” Read the full newsletter at buff.ly/YV3nmHp.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 04/08/2026

When was the last time you submitted your work? Sad Jack hopes you sent it to Okay Donkey… but if not, there’s still time to redeem yourself. Submit at buff.ly/chQ4jpz

TEXT: SUBMIT NOW REMINDER

IMAGE: There are three Sad Jacks present standing on blue circles. For two of them, you can only see their backends as they are facing away on the top and right edges of the image. The other Sad Jack is upright but you can only see his top half because he's on the bottom edge. There are three line-designs, one being a blue curly line that looks pixelated. The other is a purple loopy line that looks like it's made of razor wire. And the last one is an orange kind of black hole design that also looks pixelated.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 02/08/2026

Are you a little odd? And are you hoping to read poetry for a lit mag? Then look no further, because we want YOU to read poetry for Okay Donkey! Apply now at forms.gle/ZZ8wJB6ptBtW... Form open through August 31st.

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Stan J Wild @stanjwild.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

This is a special one in @okaydonkeymag.com First story published by Nelson Taylor in 25 years! Father-son hunting trip and a duck that doesn’t die Brilliant

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 02/08/2026

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 31/07/2026

“Spry, how the afternoon light lands on a vase of flowers. A-glow, as in someone sliding a magic carpet into the DMs of memory.” “Ode to Serotonin” by Cynthia Atkins @catkinspoet.bsky.social new poetry out today at OKD: okaydonkeymag.com/2026/07/31/o...

The background of this image is defined by pastel pink, blue, and sea green. The sea green elements are translucent, almost reminiscent of amoeba or bacteria under a microscope. On the right side of the image are pink flowers, at the top of which are four dancing women with hands raised and clasped together. And, of course, Sad Jack is at the very top of that pyramid, hands holding him up high.

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Claudia Monpere @claudiamonpere.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

"I would need to kill him without damaging feathers. He suggested a drowning. So I knelt at the edge. Held him under longer than either of us thought it would take." Stunning story by Nelson Taylor that made me tear up.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 27/07/2026

The other half of OKD’s socials team is Social Media Manager Dani Kuntz @danikuntz.com! About OKD, Dani says, “It's great to be a part of a literary magazine that takes the work seriously but not necessarily itself as an ‘institution.’” Read her full interview at buff.ly/xNjHAVz

TEXT: q&a with Dani Kuntz, Social Media Manager

IMAGE: A blue-purple background with a high-contrast image of mountains (or waves?) and some trees sitting at the left side. There are a couple of flower drawings laid over the sky. A circled, pink-tinted picture of Dani is in the center, with a decorative square frame around it. Below Dani's picture is Sad Jack wearing a black fedora with a light purple feather in the brim.

TEXT: What would you like to do (for socials) that's rarely been done?

"Overall, just be cooky and fun. It's great to be a part of a literary magazine that takes the work seriously but not necessarily itself as an 'institution.' [...] We are all writers, and our involvement in the community extends beyond Okay Donkey. So we bring a lot of passion and earnestness to our communication, which is a dream to be a part of."

IMAGE: A holographic type of background with several pastel colors and a floating pink ribbon. Dani's quote is in the center on top of a dark pink bumpy oval, which is outlined in a lighter pink.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 24/07/2026

“Gonna have to choke it, I guess, he said. No telling how long the bastards can hold their breath. Thumb into the trachea, son. Come on now.” “Taxidermy” by Nelson Taylor, new flash fiction out today at OKD: okaydonkeymag.com/2026/07/24/t...

The two colors used in this image are deep purple and red. Three red scorpions can be seen in the background, cross-faded with a swirly, oily purple backdrop. In the foreground is a pair of a hands, where Sad Jack is perched atop one of them, wearing an old-timey nurse's hat, boat-shaped with a red brim and a white medical cross in the center of the brim.

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 22/07/2026

Yay for our Lead Fiction Reader, Justin!

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Okay Donkey Magazine @okaydonkeymag.com · 20/07/2026

We’re finally revealing the wizard behind the curtain…our Social Media Associate, Cassey Abella! For OKD’s social media presence, she “envision[s] Sad Jack subconsciously permeating everyone’s minds [...] TLDR: WORLD DOMINATION.” Read Cassey’s interview at okaydonkeymag.beehiiv.com/p/bid-farewe...

TEXT: q&a with Cassey Abella
Social Media Associate

IMAGE: background is a pink-tinted, high contrast image of a seaside town with a populated beach and mountains in the horizon. Sad Jack is in the bottom-middle of the image wearing a pink cowboy hat with stars on it. He is underneath a picture of Cassey which is framed with blue and yellow.

TEXT:
What's your vision for Okay Donkey's social media presence?
"[...] I envision Sad Jack subconsciously permeating everyone's minds such that they wonder what his next move is and what Okay Donkey will publish next. TLDR: WORLD DOMINATION."

IMAGE: background is pink with some lighter pink stars and swirls. Cassey's quote lay atop a blue spiky oval, thickly outlined in yellow.

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