From the Fall 2023 Issue "The Andean condor soars," flyingfabi CC, Cañón del Colca, Peru, December 2020 Coffee & tumbao to greet the morning. Conga & trombone to gather steam. Campana & timbal to whittle down the cerebral buzz with sticks that tap into an overwhelming breadth & compress a 500-year-old history of gold-eating men into a single bite size invocation that erupts into trumpets that push my gaze not beyond the Basque & the Spanish & yet bask in the height of Huayna Picchu where I squint at the absurd nine foot wingspan of a bird that can fly upwards of five h ..read more

From the Fall 2023 Issue “Samhain altar” Credit: Pat Kight CC, Monteith, Albany, Oregon, November 2009 The Gaelic festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. The Gaelic festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. During Samhain, it is said that the veil between worlds thins and the spirits of the dead cross over into the land of the living. Traditionally, Samhain is a time to communicate with ancestors. This liturgy is written for those who are fighting for radical social change – whether activist collectives, a ..read more

From the Fall 2023 Issue "Sunset at Rockville Cemetery," John Brighenti CC, Rockville, Maryland, March 2023 Here’s to the ancestors who struggled and survived and did harm because they didn’t know how not to because they were beholden to lies about who doesn’t deserve safety. Whose stories get told as if they were good, instead of as heartbreaking tales of no good choices or as cautionary tales. Because of you, I know to be more aware of the family I’m not taught are family. Here’s to the ancestors who resisted who stood up and were beaten down only to stand again. The ancestors whose stories ..read more

From the Fall 2023 Issue “We Are Each Other’s Wings” Credit: Angelica Frausto, 2021, Digital The Spirit of Miz Patty-O Furniture draws me into a valley full of dry bones. Miz Patty-O struts among the bones, still donning their grass green beehive, pink flamingo crown, and lawn chair props they wore on stage before. Before the diagnosis. Before the pneumocystis. Before the AIDS that stripped flesh from bone. Bone to ash. The valley is strewn with thousands of parched bones, scrutinized by an oblivious sun. This valley is known by many names: Club Q, Pulse Club, Ward 5B, The Upstairs Lounge. Co ..read more

From the Fall 2023 Issue Detail of “A Prayer for Release” by Zelda Edmunds, 2023 Grandma’s teachers would slap a ruler across her mouth if she was ever caught whispering in anything but English. When Grandma started school, she only spoke Norwegian. They literally slapped her first words out of her mouth. Many years before I knew that story, I was taking Norwegian college courses and I remember coming to her excited about learning the “mother tongue.” I was attempting to connect with my roots and to Grandma in a deeper way. I expected her to be excited for me. I thought she would be intereste ..read more

From the Fall 2023 Issue “Laughing dove in flight,” Hari K Patibanda CC, 2021 Habibi, we’ve been travellers since before we were born. Ten thousand specks of infinity, all the eggs we will ever carry, were already inside us when we were born. Pigeons, al-hammem b’il 3rabiyya, crowded the sidewalks in Brooklyn, New York as great-grandfather Kherbawi’s black priest robe brushed over shit stains. My people were Syrian Orthodox priests who brought their flock to Amreeka. First wave Arab immigrants and yet it was almost 20 years before I learned the precious love-word habibi. Learned to whisper it ..read more

From the Summer 2023 Issue “Transported back to childhood,” marneejill CC, 2016 I’m not sure what to do when the positions are switched like this. You are standing there, person whose body created me and my brothers, my long lost sister, too. Rage has beat against you your whole life, tightening muscles against bone. You are the one whose moods and migrations determined our days. This has shaped all of us, this culture of fear and caution that taught us to be conflict negotiators, to cajole laughter out of the angriest of strangers. Now, on this day, you are sputtering with anger. I am watchi ..read more

From the Summer 2023 Issue “Full Speed,” Hernán Piñera CC, 2015 Dear Grace, Greetings from the future. Given how much you like sci-fi (the Star Wars slate of girl characters only gets better, FYI) and receiving mail (remember the letters you wrote to “Shelly,” your imaginary mermaid friend?), I know this letter from your future self will be ripped open and delighted over. I’m writing with some updates and a request. So first off: in general, things are kind of the same. I’m still obsessed with mom. And I’m sorry to say she’s right about more things than you even realize. And actually, the las ..read more

“Box X,” Ira Wylie-Eggert, 6 years old, April 2023, pastel, 8.5 x 11 inches Ignore expectations. We created this poem by listing advice we were hearing about what to do during lockdown and then shifting the verbs and nouns to reveal some whimsical suggestions. Readers could try this activity themselves, or just enjoy this as a poem. Stay       something new. Learn       your records. Dust off       your grandma. Call       the birds. Feed       outside. Play       every day. Walk       a t ..read more

From the Summer 2023 Issue “Anticipate the storm," Boris Thaser CC, Poland, 2017 Dear Kateri, I’ve been thinking about you today. I recently found your journal – our first journal – documenting your life in 6th grade. It’s got a dragonfly on the front and a handwritten note labelled “Private :)”. Amidst the many pages describing your middle school joys and woes, you mention more than once your fears of “Global Warming.” I remember: this is a big year for you in learning about the climate. You go to see An Inconvenient Truth and take it in with wide and serious eyes. You visit a landfill and b ..read more