There came a time, at dinner with my mother, where I realized that she, too, would die. She would grow old and fragile, shrink and eventually wither away, just like her mother, and her mother’s mother. Just like all the mothers that came before her. It came in the form of a superimposition, a memory … Read moreSo I can know myself by Paulina Calistru
2020 was a challenging year. When the world was forced to quarantine at home, many of us found solace in books, where we could escape to a different reality. I asked our editors to talk about one book that helped get them through 2020. Here is a collection of their selections, highlighting BIPOC titles that … Read moreBooks We Loved in 2020
V. Just after Christmas Day, we met at Kava, a cafe on 40th and 9th, for a late dinner. In the far left booth, his cheap wool peacoat and large white knit circle scarf sat lifeless in a pile beside him as he calmly awaited my arrival. We both ordered soup, and when he walked … Read moremariconcito V by Jose Useche
CW: Describes a hit and run I took my husband to see the town where I took my first breath in. To where he wouldn’t have even looked my way because, before we met, I walked around with a cigarette in hand. I smoked until the last day I lived in my hometown, and then … Read moreShotgun by Victoria Buitron
My grandfather and I aren’t very close. I think that we could be, but we don’t know how to talk to each other. “What kind of books do you write?” He asks me often. I don’t write books, but at least he remembers that I write. “Just stuff about my life,” I always say. It’s … Read moreTrain Cars by Jay Roundtree
“I love it up here.” She said as she gazed into the distance. Her legs dangled off the old brownstone’s roof edge. The air was stuffy. Usually, around this time, the neighborhood would be outside. The fresh smell of barbeque floating through the block, kids soaked under the sprinkling water bursting from the fire hydrant, … Read morePushed Out by Garrett D.G
[an excerpt from “hella”] CW: This piece includes racial slurs I’d heard rumors of incoming freshmen getting hazed at Westmoor—everything from being rolled down hills in trash cans, to getting tied to metal poles so upperclassmen could smash your nuts with tether-balls. My source for this information was my best friend, Edwin Garro. The rumors … Read moreHAIRCUT by Damien Belliveau
You’re laying alone in bed, and a chill consumes your body. You scan the room, fear creeping into your bones. A tingling sensation floods over your skin – as if you’re being watched by something, or someone. You can’t possibly fear the dark, no, it must be something else. You look across the room at … Read moreChildhood Monsters by Matthew Marroquín
For 20 minutes a day the sunlight caresses my skin, peeling off the numbness like the rind of a lemon. I’m stuck in this room. I cannot leave, for I am not allowed to. I wish they could put me in a room with bigger windows so I could see outside, see the sky, see … Read moreExtraterrestrial Rays by Matthew Marroquín
You hit your head pretty badly. It was stupid. Drinking the worries of the day away with a single malt scotch and home cooked lasagna. At this point in your adult life, this dish is the only thing you can make from muscle memory, no cookbook required and you are damn proud of it too. … Read moreConcussion by Angelica Ames