Some of us were born into fire. Others into silence. But for us in Gaza—our first breath came with the taste of fear. The world met us with its back turned. Sometimes our pain, hunger, and fear get romanticized or turned into some kind of heroicnarrative—as if we chose this, or as . . .
Read MoreThese erasures are created from pages of Fascinating Womanhood, a 1963 “self-improvement” manual for wives, with whose author I (once) shared a religious background. It urged women to suppress their intelligence and capability, and make themselves childlike, dependent, and “feminine.” I first encountered it in the library of the religious institute across the . . .
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Editor’s note: April 16, 2025, on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Abigail Chabitnoy– mentor for the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA in Creative Writing, poetry editor for the Massachusetts Review, and assistant professor of English at UMass Amherst—presented this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary, Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat . . .
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Translator’s Note: The French adjective populaire, used here to qualify quartier (neighborhood, area, district, ward),is a translation conundrum. Not to be confused with “popular,” populaire is often translated as “working class,” but the Marxist overtones of this term are misleading, erasing the way the term has morphed into a racial euphemism to . . .
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“I think it’s time to question what we ask of authors, particularly new authors, in exchange forpaying attention to them,” Portalmania author Debbie Urbanski wrote in a recent LitHub article,raising important questions about personal boundaries in the context of book marketing, thaticky blood ritual of churning out social media posts, podcast interviews . . .
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And malt does more than Milton canTo justify God’s ways to man. –A. E. Housman There are Porters and Stouts; there are Browns.(And these beer styles are rightly renowned.)Though I’ve tried quite a few,I’ve sought differently brewedTypes of malty. Come taste what I’ve found. And before it gets sultry outside,while a vestige . . .
Read More“At my apartment complex’s scarf sale, I tried to give away my last boyfriend. But E was such a beautiful and soft red scarf. He smelled like pumpkin spice. A pumpkin spice–smelling scarf is too unique to give away. I didn’t want some other person enjoying the spices of my labor. So . . .
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FOOTSTEPS RUNNING AWAY FROM THEMSELVES Rapid under the feet of children whogrew up too soonand changed their shoesand their featuresin a hurry Time was rushinglike the ambulancesstruggling to run after explosions In the streets that tear their clothesand the birds that change their shapes There is death on both sidesand death is . . .
Read MoreNathan McClain and Abigail Chabitnoy have selected Chard deNiord’s poem “This Side of You” from MR’s Spring 2024 issue (Vol. 65, Issue 1) for the prestigious prize. CHARD DENIORD is the author of 7 books of poetry, most recently In My Unknowing (U. of Pittsburgh Press, 2020) and Interstate (U. of Pittsburgh . . .
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I expect you would be surprised that your death affected me so much that I spoke at two services for you, that I am writing about you now. We were friends, but we had not stayed in touch. So, it surprises me too. But you were a friend to me during a . . .
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