Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 6
May 5, 2025
Phenomenology Study / Elegy for Island Love
STEPHANIE NIU
The banana plant that thrashed outside my lover’s window / seemed unreal. Our hours together felt like a dream: / how he nudged a spider up the shower tile / with a cupped hand, unwilling to hurt anything /
alive. How unlike me, watching the slow turn /
of the ceiling fan...
The banana plant that thrashed outside my lover’s window / seemed unreal. Our hours together felt like a dream: / how he nudged a spider up the shower tile / with a cupped hand, unwilling to hurt anything /
alive. How unlike me, watching the slow turn /
of the ceiling fan...
Someone Else’s House
EMILY LEITHAUSER
... a razed, /
blackened, and burned //
dominion all around. And when /
you find the right //
news source, you will weep, or have sex, /
or forget; you will give //
money and cry in earnest. /
We’ve wanted to save //
each other for so many years /
that we’ve forgotten //
how.
... a razed, /
blackened, and burned //
dominion all around. And when /
you find the right //
news source, you will weep, or have sex, /
or forget; you will give //
money and cry in earnest. /
We’ve wanted to save //
each other for so many years /
that we’ve forgotten //
how.
Ode to Mitski
WILLIAM FARGASON
while driving today to pick up groceries / I drive over the bridge where it would be / so easy to drive right off the water / a blanket to lay over my head its fevers / I do want to live most days but today /
I don’t I could let go of the wheel
while driving today to pick up groceries / I drive over the bridge where it would be / so easy to drive right off the water / a blanket to lay over my head its fevers / I do want to live most days but today /
I don’t I could let go of the wheel
The Elephant’s Child
PRIA ANAND
At the edge of the circle was the elephant’s child, craning to see the bones. His hide was fragile, his ears wispy. The elephant’s child did not yet know to grieve. He had the eyes of a human, and he shed no tears. He was incomplete, Shiva thought, only partially formed.
At the edge of the circle was the elephant’s child, craning to see the bones. His hide was fragile, his ears wispy. The elephant’s child did not yet know to grieve. He had the eyes of a human, and he shed no tears. He was incomplete, Shiva thought, only partially formed.
Amman: The Heaviness and Lightness of Place
HISHAM BUSTANI
Without the above diverse groups, there would have been no Amman. This mosaic of people, languages, traditions, and tastes created Amman, transforming it in four decades from a khirbeh to a city. All cities are birthed, shaped, and formed by migrants.
Without the above diverse groups, there would have been no Amman. This mosaic of people, languages, traditions, and tastes created Amman, transforming it in four decades from a khirbeh to a city. All cities are birthed, shaped, and formed by migrants.
The Month When I Watch Joker Every Day
ERICA DAWSON
This is a fundamental memory. / The signs pointing to doing something right / and failing. Educated and I lost / my job. Bipolar and I cannot lose / my mind. The first responder says I’m safe. / Joaquin Phoenix is in the hospital. / I’m in my bedroom where I’ve tacked a sheet...
This is a fundamental memory. / The signs pointing to doing something right / and failing. Educated and I lost / my job. Bipolar and I cannot lose / my mind. The first responder says I’m safe. / Joaquin Phoenix is in the hospital. / I’m in my bedroom where I’ve tacked a sheet...
Target Island
MARIAH RIGG
His boss didn’t want to give him this assignment, preferring to send Harrison to the Big Island to oversee the grading of coastal land for a resort. But Harrison fought for this job, promised that it would provide more contracts for the company in the future.
His boss didn’t want to give him this assignment, preferring to send Harrison to the Big Island to oversee the grading of coastal land for a resort. But Harrison fought for this job, promised that it would provide more contracts for the company in the future.
Wandering
ALA JANBEK
After a year and a half in the neighborhood, I no longer wonder if I should buy a snack from the red shop or the blue one; instead, I buy from Abu Hussein, who throws in a date and a walnut for free (because you can’t eat a date by itself).
After a year and a half in the neighborhood, I no longer wonder if I should buy a snack from the red shop or the blue one; instead, I buy from Abu Hussein, who throws in a date and a walnut for free (because you can’t eat a date by itself).
Kaymoor, West Virginia
G. C. WALDREP
According to rule. The terrible safeguard / of the text when placed against the granite / ledge into which our industry inscribed / itself. We were prying choice from the jaws / of poverty, from the laws of poverty. / But what came out was exile.
According to rule. The terrible safeguard / of the text when placed against the granite / ledge into which our industry inscribed / itself. We were prying choice from the jaws / of poverty, from the laws of poverty. / But what came out was exile.
Curlew Sixth Sense Bantry
JOHN KINSELLA
To take a liberty with lexicon / is remiss in the circumstances / of the curlew / with diminished habitat. / It reprises every day, / and the mudflats / sheeted by the in- / sweep of tide leads it to the mowed / grass in front of the Bantry / lifeboat...
To take a liberty with lexicon / is remiss in the circumstances / of the curlew / with diminished habitat. / It reprises every day, / and the mudflats / sheeted by the in- / sweep of tide leads it to the mowed / grass in front of the Bantry / lifeboat...
