I am fourteen. I am depressed. My doctor puts me on Zoloft, which decreases sex drives in adults, and prevents me from developing a sex drive in the first place. My fatal flaw is that I do not know this. Instead, I believe I am holy.
An interview | Robert Jones Jr. on Black Love, Community, and Resistance in The Prophets
Robert Jones, Jr. is the author of The New York Times Bestselling novel, The Prophets, which was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award for Fiction and has been translated into nineteen languages. He was born and raised in New York City and received his BFA in creative writing […]
A Visitor Comes to Rondo | Debra Stone
In the backyard of 841 Rondo Avenue, the barbecue cloud floated above them, wrapped around the house like Grandma Essie’s arms. As usual, Grandpa Joe’s stubby brown cigar, clamped tight between his lips, rested in the corner of his mouth. In one hand, a sweating bottle of Grain Belt Beer. In […]
Missoula Stop-gap | Chris Potter
Two blue hiking poles stood upright in the snow. Two stories up, dark hair spilled over the balcony. The apartment complex looked deserted, yet there he was. “You came back!” Cash called down to me. “I had no choice. They closed the campgrounds.” “Want to unload the truck?” “No. I […]
Pangani | Michael Don
Tomorrow will be one week since the mall attack. Our roommates are out dancing. They’re younger than us, unmarried, work nine to five, and have been in Nairobi over a year. They live in large rooms featuring wood floors and built-in dressers. They lost a friend in the attack. Another […]
Omissions | Lauren McGovern
June 22, 2020 Dear Lauren: We’re updating the school’s website and need a new faculty bio from you by August 19, since you’re moving into a new teaching position this September. Thank you for your attention in this matter. Sincerely, *** The Communications Team June 25, 2020 Dear Team: Here’s […]
Fearful Symmetries | Jeff McLaughlin
My father rarely raised his voice. Growing up the eldest of nine in a house with only four bedrooms left him reserved, thoughtful, and inclined towards subtlety. He used a modest inheritance, the only financial help he ever received from his family, to purchase a sailboat, in part because it […]
100 Things That More or Less Happened Between Me and You | Marcy Rae Henry
1. I was sleeping in red satin sheets that smelled of you when, out of the blue, you called and said: I met a guy and I’m going to sleep with him tomorrow. 2. I hung up the phone. And said nothing to you for the next two years. 3. […]
Guns & Mariah Carey | T. Abeyta
While I always had my head in a book, my Dad was busy cleaning his guns. I’m still not sure what there is to clean in a gun, but there was never a cleaner gun than his. He took them apart on a little wooden TV tray table while he […]
An Interview | John Keene on the Power of Narrative From 1613 to Today
John Keene is a Distinguished Professor of English and African-American and African Studies at Rutgers-Newark, where he has served as the chair of the African-American and African Studies department since 2015. In his own words, he says, “I’m a writer, a translator, an artist, an editor, and a mentor.” He […]
Encountering Iron | Jeri Griffith
The port city of Bilbao is good place to encounter iron. With a history steeped in steel, ship-building and the shipping industry, the tradition for iron works and iron workers runs deep. That heritage is celebrated by artist Richard Serra at Guggenheim Bilbao in his monumental work titled The Matter […]
Canada | Erika Veurink
1. Drawn on the back of an uncorrected proof of Aaron Kunin’s Love Three is a grid-like arrangement of thirty-six circles. Thirty-five of them are penciled in like test answers. The rows of spheres slant left. They are the hours I have waited to see him. I turn the book […]
Anxious Fish | Ysabelle Cheung
In the market near your flat, the fish are still partially alive when you buy them. The yellow-aproned woman calls you over, gesturing to the croaker, the red snapper—“so fresh! I’ll give it to you for 35 dollars!”—with blood on their gelatinous eyes, their snouts, leaking or twitching all over […]
An Interview | Shaqayeq Ahmadian on The Continuum of Life
I first became familiar with Shaqayeq Ahmadian’s work after I found her page on Instagram one night in 2018. Since then, I have followed her development as an artist and we have become friends, bonding over the experience of being young women working in creative fields; however, because she lives […]