Prose
Flood
Noah Rabinovitch I first learned the story of Noah’s ark in Sunday school. They told me: “The people of Earth were very, very, bad. So, God sent down water.” I was told the water did not kill, but clean. I thought about how filthy the water behind my home was, how it smelled, how it… Read More Flood
What It’s Really Like to be a Young Woman of Color in Tech
“Practically every day that passed, older, married men stared at my body. Meetings were dominated by white males droning on and on, often talking over their female counterparts or ignoring them altogether. White women sometimes seemed to feel like they were competing against you, rather than working with you.” Eda Yu, “What It’s Really Like… Read More What It’s Really Like to be a Young Woman of Color in Tech
Spontaneous Combustion
When I was in fifth grade, I developed an inexplicable, but severe fear of spontaneous combustion. That year, my younger brother returned home from the Scholastic Book Fair with a book about unexplained supernatural phenomena. I loved spooky stories about mysterious ghosts and cryptid creatures, so at the first possible opportunity, I stole the book… Read More Spontaneous Combustion
Follow Me Brother
You were never one for conversation, were you Samson? Yeah. Even when we were kids. I remember countless times back in grade school where the teacher would call on you, and you’d look down at your desk and speak real soft into the wood, your hands folded all timid-like on the desktop,… Read More Follow Me Brother
Goodnight
The residents of Grand Island, NE witness very little growth in a lifetime. Every summer, middle school students trudge through miles of corn rows, their gloved hands uprooting the tassels, mud caked up to their knees. In the fall, families drive their minivans to the farmer’s market to purchase a plastic bag of corn to… Read More Goodnight
Safar
He rolled the reddish syrupy paste in his mouth, chewing until his tongue dyed brown from the areca nut and tobacco. After a moment, he spat out this paan on the ground, leaving a rusty reddish stain on the ground. His white undershirt seemed clean apart from the sweat stains, so after a cursory check… Read More Safar
Colossus
I have forgotten more than you will ever remember. Time’s merciless progression has rested lightly on me, yet her watchful spectre still haunts my path. I laugh, now, to think I once believed you and I were disparate. You aged, you mourned, you died; and I, who have denied these forces all my existence, now… Read More Colossus
Snow for Christmas
I first saw the Lego Christmas Village on November fourth. I remember the exact day because it was Ellis’s eighth birthday party at the Zoo and Mom took me to Anglo-Dutch to buy him a present. The invitation is still pinned up on our bulletin board above the toaster even though the party already happened.… Read More Snow for Christmas
There’s No Need for Mirrors Here
I row the boat. That’s not all I do. I listen, and sometimes I talk, but that’s not my job. My job is to row the boat. The people sit across from me, and I ask them to tell me stories to pass the time. Often, the people are nervous. I had an American man… Read More There’s No Need for Mirrors Here
Where We Are
-1- He came in the window and let some flurries into my room. I told him to close it as I shrunk into my blanket. He stood, nose dripping, for a second. Then I lifted the blanket and he whooshed in like a cold breeze and filled the spot. We kissed hard. The door… Read More Where We Are
