Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 129
September 13, 2018
The Common Welcomes New Editors!
The Common is excited to announce two new additions to the editorial staff: Translations Editor Curtis Bauer and Contributing Editor W. Ralph Eubanks.
Backyard Alchemy
J.D. HO
On a cold April day in the Virginia mountains where we live, the sun shines, therefore I must be outside. “I’m going for the big kahuna,” I tell James as I stand at the basement door with my shovel. The big kahuna, a silly expression from my Hawaii childhood.
On a cold April day in the Virginia mountains where we live, the sun shines, therefore I must be outside. “I’m going for the big kahuna,” I tell James as I stand at the basement door with my shovel. The big kahuna, a silly expression from my Hawaii childhood.
September 12, 2018
Blue Mountains
JAMIE EDGECOMBE
A cloud passed over the sun, turning the blue surfaces of the flooded rice fields grey. It was then that he noticed the man standing on the opposite bank of the field. The Doctor thought his mind was playing tricks on him, for the landscape had been empty all afternoon.
A cloud passed over the sun, turning the blue surfaces of the flooded rice fields grey. It was then that he noticed the man standing on the opposite bank of the field. The Doctor thought his mind was playing tricks on him, for the landscape had been empty all afternoon.
September 10, 2018
Puerto Rican Writing: One Year after María @ Brooklyn Book Festival
This event features contemporary Puerto Rican writers of both poetry and prose sharing new creative work and discussing how the ongoing crisis has transformed our styles of survival, our experience of diaspora, and the function of translation.
September 5, 2018
Four Poems from New York City
SEAN SINGER
Tonight in the taxi I drove four women from a bachelorette party complete with their tiaras and feathers to another bar. Already happy, they pushed the soon-to-be-bride forward and she asked me how I thought she looked. / I was too taken aback to answer much of anything. She was liquid, prehistoric, and my little body burned.
Tonight in the taxi I drove four women from a bachelorette party complete with their tiaras and feathers to another bar. Already happy, they pushed the soon-to-be-bride forward and she asked me how I thought she looked. / I was too taken aback to answer much of anything. She was liquid, prehistoric, and my little body burned.
August 31, 2018
August 2018 Poetry Feature: New Poems by Loren Goodman
LOREN GOODMAN
If I could only express
My feelings in the moment
Instead of hiding them
Under watered-down
Recollections of late night
Submarine movie talks
Designed to ping us
Through shark-infested loneliness…
If I could only express
My feelings in the moment
Instead of hiding them
Under watered-down
Recollections of late night
Submarine movie talks
Designed to ping us
Through shark-infested loneliness…
August 30, 2018
Ask a Local: Ko Ko Thett, Sagaing, Myanmar
KO KO THETT
If you live here long enough you will also hear Buddhist and Muslim prayers on loudspeakers… and cicadas and songbirds. Around midnight… when the whole town is dark and quiet, you can hear the competing howls of packs of street dogs in the backdrop of the Irrawaddy wind piping through the leafy gardens of Sagaing. I love that.
If you live here long enough you will also hear Buddhist and Muslim prayers on loudspeakers… and cicadas and songbirds. Around midnight… when the whole town is dark and quiet, you can hear the competing howls of packs of street dogs in the backdrop of the Irrawaddy wind piping through the leafy gardens of Sagaing. I love that.
August 28, 2018
Review: Alpha: Abidjan to Paris
JULIA LICHTBLAU reviews ALPHA: ABIDJAN to PARIS
African migrants to Europe follow less familiar terrain for American readers. It’s worth starting the book by flipping to the map at the back, drawn in Barroux’s loose style, thick marker lines over wash, to grasp the distances between the way stations on the migrant’s journey.
African migrants to Europe follow less familiar terrain for American readers. It’s worth starting the book by flipping to the map at the back, drawn in Barroux’s loose style, thick marker lines over wash, to grasp the distances between the way stations on the migrant’s journey.
August 23, 2018
Friday Reads: August 2018
Curated by: SARAH WHELAN This month, we’re celebrating our wonderful summer interns who work tirelessly to ensure The Common’s excellence despite the heat. As Amherst College students, these three readers ask us to look towards the margins; the lines between civility and scandal, poetry and prose, black and white. Recommendations: Passing by Nella Larsen, On
August 22, 2018
The Old Apartment
ISABEL MEYERS
I imagine all the Rosas I’ve known throughout the years returning to this spot to dance with her little sister, and all the rainstorms that must have provided accompaniment. Although I’ve never been to this apartment or even country before, I’m hit with a second-hand nostalgia of sorts, for a Rosa I never had the chance to meet until today.
I imagine all the Rosas I’ve known throughout the years returning to this spot to dance with her little sister, and all the rainstorms that must have provided accompaniment. Although I’ve never been to this apartment or even country before, I’m hit with a second-hand nostalgia of sorts, for a Rosa I never had the chance to meet until today.
