You Do Not Need to Be Someone by Molly Brodak

This poem originally appeared in the 2018 issue of Portland Review. We are republishing it online in remembrance of Molly Brodak, a poet and memoirist, who passed away last month.    I’m my mom and my dad. Two blanks, coat and hat on a rack. Mom’s hands, endless sea reach without sound, Dad’s downturn luck, god-wrest force of coin. At night the moon won’t stay at all,…

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Lindisfarne

Keening nuns turn to boreal fiends on their tidal island, filing through blind arcades fighting nor’easters. Heading chapel wise their habits keep their foreheads cozy. But the altar has gone green. The girls drop their coarse cut cloth and get low, to prostrate. Lithe moss virgins, their green bodies light up the damp stone. A ring of thorns has sprung up suddenly outside—proper protection for…

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Wat Nong Bua Yai

Before the State had built the dam and Mother River wet the ochre earth with her reckless kiss, our villages converged here like veins meeting at the heart or rice-grains gathering in the gut. My friends and I would play, our noodle-arms hung off the tamarind trees. Our parents sat out on patterned mats, their bright sandals strewn out to dry. The smells, the sounds,…

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Announcing the 2020 Verna Marion Nugent Contest Winner

Portland Review is thrilled to announce Sara Duff as the winner of our inaugural Verna Marion Nugent Chapbook Contest. Her short story, “Perfect Specimens” was chosen by author Porochista Khakpour. The award supports emerging writers who have not yet published a book or had work appear major print or online outlets. Named after Portland-based librarian, single-mother, and short story writer Verna Marion Nugent, the contest is made possible…

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