Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 25
April 22, 2024
I Am, I Said
DAVID MEISCHEN
Shorts, standard walking shoes. He looked like someone I might meet hiking the Shoal Creek Trail. And not give a second thought. But the glance had happened; the silent exchange had happened. The unspoken had changed me, changed him. I could see what was not visible.
Shorts, standard walking shoes. He looked like someone I might meet hiking the Shoal Creek Trail. And not give a second thought. But the glance had happened; the silent exchange had happened. The unspoken had changed me, changed him. I could see what was not visible.
Was to Get It
MATTHEW LIPPMAN
I tried to get in touch with my inner knowledge. / Turns out I have no inner knowledge. / I used to think I did. / Could sit on a rock contemplating the frog, the river, the rotisserie chicken / and know that everything is connected to everything else.
I tried to get in touch with my inner knowledge. / Turns out I have no inner knowledge. / I used to think I did. / Could sit on a rock contemplating the frog, the river, the rotisserie chicken / and know that everything is connected to everything else.
Avenue B
KEVIN HAUTIGAN
If you ever want to feel real, / even important, / cry on the street. / Sob. Heave. Bum a half-smoked cigarette. / Drunks rally around your wet eyes: / A woman brings a paper cup of soft serve. / A man in a floral shirt puts his hand on your shoulder.
If you ever want to feel real, / even important, / cry on the street. / Sob. Heave. Bum a half-smoked cigarette. / Drunks rally around your wet eyes: / A woman brings a paper cup of soft serve. / A man in a floral shirt puts his hand on your shoulder.
Call and Response
TREY MOODY
My grandmother likes to tell me dogs / understand everything you say, they just can’t / say anything back. We’re eating spaghetti / while I visit from far away. My grandmother /
just turned ninety-four and tells me dogs / understand everything you say...
My grandmother likes to tell me dogs / understand everything you say, they just can’t / say anything back. We’re eating spaghetti / while I visit from far away. My grandmother /
just turned ninety-four and tells me dogs / understand everything you say...
Ecstasy Facsimile
MARK ANTHONY CAYANAN
Longing to make his life compact as sushi, my shame / borrows the saint’s apron, shackles his swivel in her cincture. My shame / walks the earth with an electric blanket, goes to the gym to window-shop with / it, heads for the hills where he takes selfies meditating.
Longing to make his life compact as sushi, my shame / borrows the saint’s apron, shackles his swivel in her cincture. My shame / walks the earth with an electric blanket, goes to the gym to window-shop with / it, heads for the hills where he takes selfies meditating.
Atlanta Spa Mass Shootings
ANN INOSHITA
Eight people wen ma-ke. Six of um, Asian. / All da police captain said was / da killa had one bad day. // Eh, I get pleny bad days too, / but you no see me going Vegas / on one shooting rampage. / All da killa did was blame da victims. / Racist, sexist shit.
Eight people wen ma-ke. Six of um, Asian. / All da police captain said was / da killa had one bad day. // Eh, I get pleny bad days too, / but you no see me going Vegas / on one shooting rampage. / All da killa did was blame da victims. / Racist, sexist shit.
The Day Azrael Committed Suicide
ARTHUR GABRIEL YAK
He glimpsed his mother’s face, which had departed some time ago: she smiled at him as she never had before; then she too melted into the last of the fine lines of smoke that crashed into the ceiling and vanished into the malfunctioning fan overrun by cobwebs.
He glimpsed his mother’s face, which had departed some time ago: she smiled at him as she never had before; then she too melted into the last of the fine lines of smoke that crashed into the ceiling and vanished into the malfunctioning fan overrun by cobwebs.
Lover, before the pandemic
ELEANOR STANFORD
I understood power / as the ability to excite / desire. When I passed / the socialists camped out / in the square in Mexico City / last summer I cringed / in recognition and took a picture / that I texted to my anarchist / in another country. / Later / I bought silver earrings.
I understood power / as the ability to excite / desire. When I passed / the socialists camped out / in the square in Mexico City / last summer I cringed / in recognition and took a picture / that I texted to my anarchist / in another country. / Later / I bought silver earrings.
Woodpecker
JEFFREY HARRISON
It was just doing what it needed to do / to survive, yet we watched through the window // amazed by its relentlessness, / like someone making the same / obvious point over and over, / until we gave in to the amusement / I know my father would have felt / at the way, between bursts of pecking, / its head popped up.
It was just doing what it needed to do / to survive, yet we watched through the window // amazed by its relentlessness, / like someone making the same / obvious point over and over, / until we gave in to the amusement / I know my father would have felt / at the way, between bursts of pecking, / its head popped up.
April 19, 2024
Podcast: Amanda Mei Kim on “California Obscura”
AMANDA MEI KIM
Amanda Mei Kim speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “California Obscura,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2024 issue.
Amanda Mei Kim speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “California Obscura,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2024 issue.
