This Deep Loneliness
This Deep Loneliness by Suzanna C. de Baca When I was small, otherness was a cloak I forced myself to fit into, a cinched corset, shoes that pinched, too-tight gloves that bunched my fingers into clenched fists. She gnawed…
Others
Editor's Note: Others by Albert Kapikian Are you in line? is perhaps the only generally accepted way to address the other today, a pretense to disguise our irritation, an ever ready to deploy, ever ready to be heard and…
Unwholly Other
Unwholly Other By Chris Arthur This is a personal reflection on otherness, not an academic article about “the other,” so what follows favors a meandering approach over a point-by-point linear unfolding. I’m writing an essay, not an exposition.…
The Storytelling Argument
The Storytelling Argument By Gail Louise Siegel The argument starts this way: “Can’t you just tell me what happened?” I think I am telling him what happened. “I ran into Kate while she was crossing Dodge at the light.…
Children of the Forest
Children of the Forest by Abi Newhouse In Salt Lake City, I climbed a parking garage in the dark. One that swirls, teenagers would bring their longboards and ride down the ramp. Industrial lights lit the concrete to an unsettling…
The Sound of People Leaving
The Sound of People Leaving by Jamie Holland Midway through my first semester in college (1982), my mom wrote to tell me that plane tickets were too expensive, so I wouldn’t be coming home for Thanksgiving. Besides, she said, Christmas…
The Loneliness Zone
The Loneliness Zone By Bill Marsh I come from a long line of lonely men. Some of these men knew they were lonely, admitted as much in heartfelt letters to loved ones. Others may have known but never gave it…
The Changing Dynamic of Poetry About Birds
The Changing Dynamic of Poetry About Birds (How Poetry About Birds Is Accessed Now as Opposed to How It Was Before Now, Say ‘Then’) By Jayant Kashyap The most basic and observable change, I’ve come to understand, has been…
Best Left
Best Left by Jen Hirt The Mel-O-Cream cashier says call ahead and reserve your favorite doughnuts, otherwise they run out. But I’m here only once, won’t be back, driving through Illinois. Lincoln’s Tomb to what’s left of The Great…
Dan’s Gone, Too, Now
Dan’s Gone, Too, Now by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer Dan’s gone, too, now. He was fishing in a river and was washed away when he didn’t hear the siren announcing that the gates of a nearby dam had opened. Anything can…