the pair of gold teeth you found as a child, hiddenat the bottom of your mother’s jewelry box,were not from your father’s dental school failure,artificials he filed from ferric molds.—from “an open letter to the woman sharing her funny story in this writing workshop”, Volume 62, Issue 2 (Spring 2021) Tell us . . .
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Dear M— It’s true that I once took a ferry across the Balearic Sea to Ibiza to danceall night like an alien that hasn’t heard of sleep.—from “Crossed Letters for a Concerned American”, Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.Although, like many teenagers, . . .
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I had a hole in my pocket I usedto fall through when I was little. Therewas never anyone there, just the soundthe dark makes when it’s ignoring youand the smell of coins someone found—from “Just Below Away,” Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you . . .
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Rotisserie chickens tied uppre-chop: my skin melted, stuck,grease dripping on the floor.—from “Pure Pleasure”, Volume 62, Issue 2 (Spring 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.I started journaling when I was very young. I used to write these little poems and observations in the margins of books, too. . . .
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“Later he won’t recollect who wore cardboard crowns– as always, he stayed sober, the dork calling cabsfor lightweights who couldn’t pace themselves till midnight.”—from “Size 12,” Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.As I child—was I in fifth grade?—I invested significant energy in . . .
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If you siphon hatred through skin and bonesLong enough, if you gut punch your heartHard enough, in between all the layers ofWho you are, you findThe will to live.—from “Scraped from a Boning Knife”, Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.I came into . . .
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(Photo: Afghan girl in class. Courtesy of J. Malcolm Garcia.) My Afghan colleague, Aarash, recently received a special immigrant visa (SIV). I’m a freelance reporter, and he worked with me in Kabul as a translator for five years. SIVs are available only to those Afghans who worked as translators, interpreters, or other . . .
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As drone strikes fell from skiesand executed childrenMary Oliver did not abandonroses busy being roses.—from “Marguerite”, Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.I first began writing in response to the beauty of girls. Maybe sixth grade. “Thou shalt acknowledge the wonder,” says D.H. . . .
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Do you hunger too? Rivers barging inlandfade shorelineswith the weight they havecarried.—from “Gill” by Suphil Park, Volume 62, Issue 1 (Spring 2021) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.A series of singsongy part-quartets about an abandoned bicycle that I jotted down in a music composition notebook that could have . . .
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My therapist asks me why I think I always return to lack,and it may or may not be related, but it’s been on my mind,so I finally tell him I might have been assaulted by my doctor.—from “Poem with Starbucks and Kissing and Trees”, Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021) Tell us . . .
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