A poem by Justin Gardiner (poetry, ’05) appears in The Collagist:

In the Fullness of Summer, We Plan For Winter

One-hundred-and-six in the shade today, too much
even for the full green of this canopy, as I make
my slow way up from the river,

clearing the trail, which is my caretaker’s lot.
“Some species of the desert,” a field guide I have
on the Southwest claims, “adapt to the intense heat

. . . continue reading here.

Two poems by Patrick Donnelly (poetry, ’03) appear in Waxwing:

 

The moon

We coupled like rabbits, me with hundreds,

hundreds with me, hundreds with hundreds

in those orgies on narrow beds at the baths.

Some nights their faces from the ‘80s rise —

Ken Ketwig

Stephen Simmons

. . . continue reading “The moon” and “A mistake” here.

Short audio and a poem from Reginald Dwayne Betts (poetry, ’10) appears in PoetryNow on Poetry Foundation:

Temptation of the Rope

The link between us all
is tragedy, & these so many years
later, I am thinking about him,
all of twenty & gay & more free
than any of us might ever be,

… continue listening here.

An essay by Somayeh Shams (fiction, ’14) appears in Nimrod Journal Blog:

The Silenced Writer

Writing, as my M.F.A. advisor used to say, is an addiction, and, unfortunately, like all good drugs, it does not come cheap. There is no other way to explain this all-consuming, patience-building exercise that takes so much of our time away from our families, friends, sleep, and exercise. That creates no (or very little) income. Each year the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, AWP, conference and book fair attracts over 12,000 attendees. Hopeful young writers, emerging writers, and writers whose names have filled our canons attend to advertise their work, to learn, and to leave their solitude for four long days to be part of the conversation. . . . continue reading here.

A poem by Tiana Nobile (poetry, ’17) appears in Apogee:

Revisionist History

The weather in Seoul in October is bright and balmy.
All the hospital beds are full, and women with thick arms
and bent knees, feet in the stirrups, scream in an echoing

symphony. A woman with small ankles can’t see
beyond her bloated stomach. She keeps her eyes shut

[…continue reading here.]

David Rutschman (fiction, ’02)

A short piece by David Rutschman (fiction, ’02) appears in The Sun:

I Was Reading a Poem

I was reading a poem by Ryōkan about a leaf, and how it showed the front and the back as it fell, and I wanted to call someone — my wife, my brother — to tell about the poem.

[. . . continue reading here.]

Emily Sinclair

An essay by Emily Sinclair (fiction, ’14) appears in Empty Mirror:

Panic Drapes the Look of the World: Literary Treatment for Anxiety in an Uncertain Age

1.
June, 2016:

I was having a panic attack while I walked the dog after dinner. Children rode skateboards and scooters in that last yellowed hour before bedtime. I felt unreal to myself, and the Denver streets I’d known my whole adult life seemed false and imitative. What I felt was a numbing and a derealization that left me somewhat incapable of speaking to other people, as if I were vocally paralyzed, as if some essential fluid in my body had evaporated. It was hard to believe that people lived in the houses we passed; instead, the houses seemed part of an elaborate ruse of which I had not been informed. When we encountered other dogs, my dog, who was eight pounds, and at ten years old somewhat arthritic and embittered, lunged and snarled at them, then attempted to bite their chins. [. . . continue reading here.]

A poem by Caroline M. Mar (poetry, ’13) appears in The New England Review:

After the Pulse Orlando Shooting, My Wife Asks if We Can Eat at Chick-fil-A

. . . continue reading here.

“Extended Families” is an Excerpt from Ven Begamudré’s memoir, EXTENDED FAMILIES: A MEMOIR OF INDIA.

 

 

Somewhere in the U.S., a young man lives far from his family. True, he lives with his immediate family–his wife and child–but he often thinks of his larger, extended family: people he’s had no contact with for years.

His father was the youngest son of an Indian engineer, his mother the daughter of a Japanese soldier killed in the war. Their marriage was not arranged. They met in Yokohama while the father was in the Indian merchant marine. He used his earnings to purchase a flat in Bombay that he never got to live in. Now he accepted a transfer to London, a management position, then lost his job due to circumstances beyond his control. Their first child died. The second survived. Read more