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10 Questions for Kemi Alabi

May 26, 2022 - By Edward Clifford

O taxi glass, O broken fall, be soprano, be alto.
Give me sea sharp, give doh doh doh, give mi fa so?
O gravity, slip soft. Lay with this sorry child
              before they soulsplint & ugly up this here garden.
—from "The Lion Tamer's Daughter vs. The Ledge," Volume 63, Issue 1 (Spring 2022)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I recently found a poem I wrote in first grade. It was about the moon.

What writer(s) or works have influenced the way you write now?
When I was 18, I heard Patricia Smith read at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, and I’ve never been the same. Her way with...

A Matter of Control

May 24, 2022 - By DeMisty D. Bellinger

Toxic relationships abound in Cherish Farrah, but the rub is not knowing which relationship to watch out for. Bethany C. Morrow’s second novel for adults addresses classism and racism, as well as families and friendships. It’s a slow burn from page one and ends in discomfort for all.

Like Mem, Morrow’s first novel, Cherish Farrah is beautifully written, with poetic language and passages full of vivid, intricate imagery. Unlike Mem, her newest novel puts race in the forefront. Cherish and Farrah are two Black teenage girls in a predominately white and very wealthy neighborhood. Cherish’s parents, Jerry and...

2022 Winner of the Anne Halley Poetry Prize

May 24, 2022 - By Emily Wojcik

The 2022 winner of the Anne Halley Poetry Prize is Robert Whitehead, for his poem "David" (Volume 62, Issue 1).

ROBERT WHITEHEAD received his MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, and has been a fellow at the Bucknell...

10 Questions for Katherine Kolupke

May 17, 2022 - By Edward Clifford

After Sophie's love affairs had all gone sour, her life became a drought. Once full of lust and beauty, Sophie was now faded and dried, like a stalk of corn left too long in the sun. She drifted through the days at the tiny Denver packing and mailing shop where she workd, next to Sloan's Lake. The customers seemed to withhold from her, somehow knowing that she was vacant, lacking; it made them shrink back.
—from "Poison," Volume 63, Issue 1 (Spring 2022)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I wrote a couple of partial novels that I abandoned after thirty pages or so. They were enthusiastic attempts at the glossy “Chick Lit” genre that was popular in the early 2000’s. It was really hard to...

Nakba Day 74

May 17, 2022 - By Michel S. Moushabeck

Today I am beyond outraged and I can’t breathe. Palestinians the world over are weeping and mourning the loss of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Her brutal murder by Israeli Defense Forces, with a bullet to the face while clearly wearing a PRESS vest, shook me to the core. Dedicating her life to reporting the truth and exposing the horrors of the ongoing Israeli occupation, Shireen represents the best Palestine and humanity has ever produced. But outrage and heartache do not come close to describing what I am feeling right now for what my brothers and sisters in Palestine have been through—and the daily systemic abuse and suffering they continue to endure—at the hands of the evil apartheid regime in Israel.

What happened this past week—...