Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 38
July 27, 2023
July 2023 Poetry Feature: Esteban Rodríguez
ESTEBAN RODRÍGUEZ
For once, it’s not about your mother, / father, not about deserts or exoduses / to other countries, but about you / and this canoe, about a river you find / yourself in, a moment where you stop / paddling, and in order to undergo / an “experience,” look at the horizon.
For once, it’s not about your mother, / father, not about deserts or exoduses / to other countries, but about you / and this canoe, about a river you find / yourself in, a moment where you stop / paddling, and in order to undergo / an “experience,” look at the horizon.
July 26, 2023
Four Country Sonnets (with Attachments)
G.G. HARROW
Man, I feel like a… / not-man? No-man? / A man without a truck? / Without a country? / No. I feel like… / like a kiss. Like a play. / It feels good. Can I just / kiss a man? Play / with a man’s back / without feeling like / a little country in a big country, / a little window in a big night? / O beer: kiss my jeans.
Man, I feel like a… / not-man? No-man? / A man without a truck? / Without a country? / No. I feel like… / like a kiss. Like a play. / It feels good. Can I just / kiss a man? Play / with a man’s back / without feeling like / a little country in a big country, / a little window in a big night? / O beer: kiss my jeans.
July 25, 2023
Translation: Excerpt from TAXI
MARY HAWLEY
As we’d agreed, Walter meets me at noon and we have lunch in the small pizzeria across from the Tellus movie theater. After studying the menu and ordering some pizzas, Walter asks me about the years in prison... particularly any anecdotes with his father at the center of them.
As we’d agreed, Walter meets me at noon and we have lunch in the small pizzeria across from the Tellus movie theater. After studying the menu and ordering some pizzas, Walter asks me about the years in prison... particularly any anecdotes with his father at the center of them.
July 21, 2023
Podcast: Matt Donovan on “Guy with a Gun”
MATT DONOVAN
Matt Donovan speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his poem “Guy with a Gun,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2022 issue.
Matt Donovan speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his poem “Guy with a Gun,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2022 issue.
July 20, 2023
The Common Awarded 2023 Amazon Literary Partnership Grant
NEWS AND EVENTS
We are pleased to announce that The Common is among the 93 literary nonprofit organizations awarded a 2023 Literary Magazine Fund Grant by the Amazon Literary Partnership Literary Magazine Fund, in conjunction with the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses.
We are pleased to announce that The Common is among the 93 literary nonprofit organizations awarded a 2023 Literary Magazine Fund Grant by the Amazon Literary Partnership Literary Magazine Fund, in conjunction with the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses.
July 13, 2023
The Rediscovery of Bodies
AMMI KELLER
For Rachel, the plague ended in May of 2021, on the day she again touched a stranger. This stranger appeared when Rachel entered the clothing optional area of Dessert Springs. The name was a pun, the resort’s sign featuring a cartoon girl reclining in a banana split boat.
For Rachel, the plague ended in May of 2021, on the day she again touched a stranger. This stranger appeared when Rachel entered the clothing optional area of Dessert Springs. The name was a pun, the resort’s sign featuring a cartoon girl reclining in a banana split boat.
July 12, 2023
Pastoral Resistance
ROB SPILLMAN
A fair friend resists the pastoral, / insisting glacier collapse fire tornado sixth / extinction privilege the privilege of writing / about a peaceful wood walk. Walking in the / woods, I resist as well, as well.
A fair friend resists the pastoral, / insisting glacier collapse fire tornado sixth / extinction privilege the privilege of writing / about a peaceful wood walk. Walking in the / woods, I resist as well, as well.
July 10, 2023
Interrogating the Narrative of Injustice: Daphne Santana Strassmann interviews Enzo Silon Surin
ENZO SILON SURIN
In the poem, “American Libretto (A Letter of Resignation),” I wrote, “is that muffled agony feeling like a check / praying the streets will never cash.”
I am asking, how are we going to turn this around before we completely lose our humanity? I am beckoning us to finally have this long-awaited conversation.
In the poem, “American Libretto (A Letter of Resignation),” I wrote, “is that muffled agony feeling like a check / praying the streets will never cash.”
I am asking, how are we going to turn this around before we completely lose our humanity? I am beckoning us to finally have this long-awaited conversation.
July 7, 2023
Friday Reads: July 2023
SOFIA BELIMOVA
In this month’s Friday Reads feature, three of our interns recommend dynamic stories about the nightclubs of the Midwest, a boarding school in coastal Rhode Island, and the tangled relationships of a young person’s body and spirits.
In this month’s Friday Reads feature, three of our interns recommend dynamic stories about the nightclubs of the Midwest, a boarding school in coastal Rhode Island, and the tangled relationships of a young person’s body and spirits.
July 6, 2023
Translation: Excerpt from In Anne Frank’s House
MAHA HASSAN
But Maha’s frightened gaze transfused me with a fear that was both similar and totally contrary. Maha was afraid of the female soldier she’d glimpsed through the window of the bus, just arrived at the Jordan–Israel border. Maha was afraid and felt something like revulsion.
But Maha’s frightened gaze transfused me with a fear that was both similar and totally contrary. Maha was afraid of the female soldier she’d glimpsed through the window of the bus, just arrived at the Jordan–Israel border. Maha was afraid and felt something like revulsion.
