Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 10
March 6, 2025
The Hare
ISMAEL RAMOS
It’s important to decide whether or not you want to be alone, Valeria says. It has to be a conscious decision, you know? Otherwise, you end up stuck like that, in limbo, not knowing what to do, thinking one day someone’s going to come and tell you exactly what you need to hear.
It’s important to decide whether or not you want to be alone, Valeria says. It has to be a conscious decision, you know? Otherwise, you end up stuck like that, in limbo, not knowing what to do, thinking one day someone’s going to come and tell you exactly what you need to hear.
March 5, 2025
When I Go to Chicago
SHELLEY STENHOUSE
When I Go to Chicago, things break. The last time, on the last day, the pipes in the kitchen burst and flooded my parents’ blonde wood floor. When I’m up in that 87th floor apartment, I look at the sky’s blank expression. I keep the little square office window open for the sliver of nature.
When I Go to Chicago, things break. The last time, on the last day, the pipes in the kitchen burst and flooded my parents’ blonde wood floor. When I’m up in that 87th floor apartment, I look at the sky’s blank expression. I keep the little square office window open for the sliver of nature.
February 28, 2025
Podcast: Gray Davidson Carroll on “Silent Spring”
GRAY DAVIDSON CARROLL
Poet Gray Davidson Carroll speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about their poem “Silent Spring,” which appears in The Common’s fall issue. Gray talks about poetry as a way to witness and observe the world and how we experience it, and how it’s changing.
Poet Gray Davidson Carroll speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about their poem “Silent Spring,” which appears in The Common’s fall issue. Gray talks about poetry as a way to witness and observe the world and how we experience it, and how it’s changing.
February 27, 2025
February 2025 Poetry Feature: New Poems by Our Contributors
MARC VINCENZ
Oh, you genius, you beehive, / you spark, you contiguous line— / all from the same place of origin // where there is no breeze. // All those questions posed … / take no notice, the image / is stamped on your brow, even // as you glare in the mirror, // as the others are orbiting
Oh, you genius, you beehive, / you spark, you contiguous line— / all from the same place of origin // where there is no breeze. // All those questions posed … / take no notice, the image / is stamped on your brow, even // as you glare in the mirror, // as the others are orbiting
February 26, 2025
Excerpt from On Call
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI
I took no pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States. I have always had a great deal of respect for the Office of the President, and to publicly disagree with the president was unnerving at best and painful at worst. But it needed to be done.
I took no pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States. I have always had a great deal of respect for the Office of the President, and to publicly disagree with the president was unnerving at best and painful at worst. But it needed to be done.
February 25, 2025
Excerpt from The Math of Saint Felix
DIANE EXAVIER
I turn thirty-two / the sky is mostly cloudy / over my apartment / facing Nostrand // and all my parents are dead // I am rolling my hips / toward death in a dying / city on a planet dying / just a touch slower than me // and one sister jokes we only need thirty more years
I turn thirty-two / the sky is mostly cloudy / over my apartment / facing Nostrand // and all my parents are dead // I am rolling my hips / toward death in a dying / city on a planet dying / just a touch slower than me // and one sister jokes we only need thirty more years
February 24, 2025
Excerpt from Lamentations of Nezahualcóyotl: Nahuatl Poems
ILAN STAVANS
I have lapsed; / I have been arrogant; / I have rallied my people to the battlefield; / I have built alliances based on self-interest. / Yet I have also rebuilt Texcoco from the ashes, / erecting temples, gardens, and libraries, / all designed to erase our enemies.
I have lapsed; / I have been arrogant; / I have rallied my people to the battlefield; / I have built alliances based on self-interest. / Yet I have also rebuilt Texcoco from the ashes, / erecting temples, gardens, and libraries, / all designed to erase our enemies.
February 21, 2025
What We’re Reading: February 2025
KATHARINE HALLS
Being an Arabic-English translator, I’ve usually got a book in both languages on the go at any one time. Hands down the best two things I’ve read recently are Rawaa Sonbol’s short story collection Do, Yek and Susan Finlay’s novel The Jacques Lacan Foundation.
Being an Arabic-English translator, I’ve usually got a book in both languages on the go at any one time. Hands down the best two things I’ve read recently are Rawaa Sonbol’s short story collection Do, Yek and Susan Finlay’s novel The Jacques Lacan Foundation.
February 20, 2025
Excerpt from The Undercurrent
SARAH SAWYER
They will join the two lonely streets together, and the mice will disappear, and the tall grass, and maybe the bluebonnets too. Probably the girl will be allowed to ride her bike from here to the other side of the neighborhood. The new street will be hers, too, after all.
They will join the two lonely streets together, and the mice will disappear, and the tall grass, and maybe the bluebonnets too. Probably the girl will be allowed to ride her bike from here to the other side of the neighborhood. The new street will be hers, too, after all.
February 19, 2025
Dispatch from Marutha Nilam
SAKTHI ARULANANDHAM
With the swiftness and dexterity / of a hawk that pounces upon a chicken / and takes it by force, / the bird craves / snapping up a vast terrain / with its powerful, sharp beak / and flying away with it. // When that turns out to be impossible, / in the heat of its great big sigh, / all the rivers dry up.
With the swiftness and dexterity / of a hawk that pounces upon a chicken / and takes it by force, / the bird craves / snapping up a vast terrain / with its powerful, sharp beak / and flying away with it. // When that turns out to be impossible, / in the heat of its great big sigh, / all the rivers dry up.
