Prose, Poetry, and Art since 1956
It’s 1989 and, before Hurricane Hugo hits, the jungles of Puerto Rico are vibrant and loud. The snakes hiss, the birds chirp, and the frogs, las ranas, those wonderful coquís, they sing proudly on the isla. I say sing and not croak because in Puerto Rico nothing croaks, we all sing. And the coquí, that tiny little green ranita, sings loudest of all. Its slow,…
Joy Ladin’s The Book of Anna is a vital investigation of genre resistance and redemptive doubling. “Today I decided to write great poetry. / Or die trying.” Anna Asher, the protagonist of Joy Ladin’s The Book of Anna, is a firebrand, a woman searching for meaning, aware of her own internal strain and visceral hungers. A Czech-German Jew, Anna lives in post-war Prague where she…
In this series of interviews, Jay Butler and Sarah Moffatt examine how recent antiracist activism has affected the publishing industry. Is diversity merely a marketing convention, or are publishers truly striving towards literary equity? As literary powerhouses rethink their roles as gatekeepers, we have set out to interview regional publishers to hear their side of the story. Rachel Noorda is Director of Book Publishing and…
to mukethe come listen to the wind with me. those gulf storms are still blowing residual gusts east, only so much that it’s a nightlong pleasant rattle on the bedroom’s flimsy windows; not enough to wake you, but enough to shush you back to sleep. come home. is it okay to say that i miss you like a lost sense? that the corn plant whipping…
The month wanes. Soon my mother will make sure I swallow three shredded dates daily, for the blood of me. I say: no can’t you see it’s a chore to dig them out, tongue on teeth. And she says: no you must, for the blood of you and the good of me. So go out now and get those dates before you need to always…