iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Poetry “Blue Persons” by Emily Wittenhagen @emilywittenhagen.bsky.social: buff.ly/d5gcznq Congratulations to all of our Best of the Net nominees! 🫏

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Poetry

Blue Persons
by Emily Wittenhagen

IMAGE:
A photo of white-sheet covered bodies is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

020

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Poetry "How an Adoptee Reads Literary Rejection Letters: a lost and found poem” by Danna Schmidt @dannadschmidt.bsky.social: buff.ly/qNaZqh1

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Poetry

How an Adoptee Reads Literary Rejection Letters: a lost and found poem
by Danna Schmidt

IMAGE:
A photo of a child's crayon drawing is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

110

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Poetry “Nine American Sentences” by Julia Ross: buff.ly/auci9Ae

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Poetry

Nine American Sentences
by Julia Ross

IMAGE:
A photo of a concrete wall is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

111

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Poetry “onwards & without delay” by Alexandra Nwigwe: buff.ly/XOtjmDQ

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Poetry

onwards & without delay
by Alexandra Nwigwe

IMAGE:
A photo of heavy interstate traffic is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

110

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Poetry "In the Other World, They’ll Receive Mitzvahs” by Daniel Lurie: buff.ly/mjwhWbi

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Poetry

In the Other World, They'll Receive Mitzvahs
by Daniel Lurie

IMAGE:
A photo of an open palm is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

110

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Poetry “Time Only Looks Human” by Lynne Jensen Lampe @ljensenlampe.bsky.social: buff.ly/l7aByTk

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Fiction

Time Only Looks Human
by Lynne Jensen Lampe

IMAGE:
A photo of several wooden analog clocks in a pile is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

110

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Fiction “Door in the Woods” by Chris Scott @iamchrisscott.bsky.social: buff.ly/fyLo6d6

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Fiction

Door in the Woods
by Chris Scott

IMAGE:
A photo of a person walking on a wide path in misty woods is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

140

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

OKD Best of the Net Nominee - Fiction “13.1 Septillion Pounds” by Emily Rinkema @emilyrinkema.bsky.social: buff.ly/qr6u0Sj

TEXT:
Best of the Net
Fiction

13.1 Septillion Pounds
by Emily Rinkema

IMAGE:
A photo of a baby's foot is tinted dark, cyan blue.

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

100

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

IMAGE:
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.

1152

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.)

051

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

OKD Best Small Fictions Nominee “The Void is Right There” by Yasmine Yu: buff.ly/1Q4n5uo

A photograph of a well from the perspective of the bottom is tinted bubblegum pink, making up the background of this image. The foreground text reads:

Best Small Fictions
The Void is Right There
by Yasmine Yu

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

051

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

OKD Best Small Fictions Nominee “We Took Turns Trying to Start the Truck With Our Minds” by Jeffrey Hermann @jeffreyhermann.bsky.social: buff.ly/dMshG1d

A photograph of a modern looking tractor trailer driving at dusk is tinted bubblegum pink, making up the background of this image. The foreground text reads:

Best Small Fictions
We Took Turns Trying to Start the Truck With Our Minds
by Jeffrey Hermann

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

341

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

OKD Best Small Fictions Nominee “Feed” by Debbie Urbanski: buff.ly/iYu1Dkr

A photograph of the sun shining through a window with sheer curtains is tinted bubblegum pink, making up the background of this image. The foreground text reads:

Best Small Fictions
Feed
by Debbie Urbanski

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

120

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

OKD Best Small Fictions Nominee “Alligator” by Salena Casha @salenacasha.bsky.social: buff.ly/HktxxGY

A close photograph of alligator skin is tinted bubblegum pink, making up the background of this image. The foreground text reads:

Best Small Fictions
Alligator
by Salena Casha

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

130

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

OKD Best Small Fictions Nominee “Family Double-Dare, ‘The Lima Beings vs. Toledo TNT,’ June 1991” by T.J. Martinson: buff.ly/958tIad

A photograph of an old house with a large tree is tinted bubblegum pink, making up the background of this image. The foreground text reads:

Best Small Fictions
Family Double-Dare, 'The Lima Beings vs. Toledo TNT,' June 1991
by T.J. Martinson

Sad Jack is the footer of the image.

130

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.

1124

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.

061

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

0121

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.

061

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.

081

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.

0197

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.

021

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.

0127

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.

073

Reposted by Okay Donkey Magazine

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 💙💙💙

184

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! 🫏🎉

0141

Reposted by Okay Donkey Magazine

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…

8293

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.

062

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!

0163

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.

052

Reposted by Okay Donkey Magazine

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.…

062

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.

021

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.

0122

Reposted by Okay Donkey Magazine

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.

131

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.

0255

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

Don’t worry! We regularly invite new Readers to join us. Keep an eye on our socials for future opportunities: www.instagram.com/okaydonkeymag/ okaydonkeymag.beehiiv.com 💞🫏

000

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

UPDATE: Apps are now closed. Thank you for your interest in becoming a Poetry Reader at Okay Donkey! In just a few days we had a huge number of applications and have to close the search early. All applicants will receive a reply. ✨ But…

100

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.

041