A Cycle of 33 Stories and a Song by Sammy Sutton: Who is Shiloh Malachi?
Before dawn, Shiloh Malachi writes one small word on a blank name tag and walks into the room where someone is still awake. A cycle of 33 stories by Sammy Sutton. Shiloh is the title in Genesis 49:10, “until Shiloh comes,” long read as messianic. Malachi means “my messenger,” and is the last prophetic book before the silence. Before dawn, the name tag is blank on purpose. Shiloh Malachi turns it in his fingers on a bench that does not belong to any one employer. Plastic, clip still good, the kind a night-shift manager hands you from a drawer and never asks for back. He has not written tonight’s word yet. The guitar case sits against his knee like a second person who already knows the hour. He is not waiting for a bus. He writes one small word. JANITOR. GROUNDSKEEPER. SUBSTITUTE. Then he goes inside. That is the whole method of Who is Shiloh Malachi? , a cycle of 33 stories by Sammy Sutton. A nurse fighting a custody hearing after a double shift. A soldier who has not unpacked the duffe...