2 poems in a  Pacific Review Annual Review journal, Atlantis and other lost place   Things I Don’t Remember                                                                            I forget to take clothes out of the dryer, dishes out of the dishwasher, the garbage out to the curb. Anniversaries and birthdays too, even my own.   I forget people’s names. Celebrities, especially. Who…

Freaked out? Of course, I freaked out. I mean, what would you do? You wake up thirsty in the middle of the night and you don’t want to get up because you’re tired and you’re naked and it’ll be cold, so cold, if you throw off your blankets, and besides, if you get a drink now, you…

It is impossible to read Christopher Soto’s debut poetry collection without having a visceral reaction. Diaries of a Terrorist, out this month from Copper Canyon Press, is not a collection of pretty poems, though there is great beauty in Soto’s words and deep courage in his vulnerability. This is a book that will move you—rock you.…

Her Mother Used to Make Her Cry Until She Learned  to speak. While she never raised a hand to the child, her mother would often give her the look. Fueled by anger running hot in her bones, her mother’s eyes would turn to flame. The baby would cry. The mother would calm her. Flame. Tears.…

I met Jessica O’Dwyer when we were both MFA students at Antioch University in Los Angeles. I was immediately taken by her kind and giant heart—and her beautiful writing. I am not alone in my regard for Jessica and her work. Mother Mother: A Novel has received much deserved critical acclaim: it has been named the winner…

“What Is a Criminal?” is a collection of essays by people who have knowledge of the U.S. criminal justice system from various perspectives—including people who have been incarcerated, people working in law and law enforcement, and scholarly researchers. It will be published by Routledge in 2022 Read More

There are ghosts in the room. Every room. They’re in the eaves in the attic, the crawlspaces in the basement, the living room, the kitchen, the den. Spirits haunt our lives through memories, the unconscious mind, our genes. Our parents, and their parents before them, gift us with strengths, joys, and pain. It is those…

“If You Think the Way to Learn,” the first poem in Ana Maria Spagna’s Mile Marker Six, takes us right to the heart of this collection: it moves from Spagna’s past to her present, from her childhood home to the land, from what is, to what was, to what can and can never be. Spagna,…

Take two pieces of Wonder Bread, Classic White. Place them side by side on a dessert plate. In a small, black, cast-iron frying pan, toss a healthy slab of butter. Two tablespoons. Three if you dare! Turn the flame on low. While the butter melts, take a paring knife to a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar. Hold…

Nick Olson, founder and editor in chief of the literary journal (mac)ro(mic), has a new book out, The Brother We Share—an innovative, alternate personal history, based on a true event: Olson’s 2016 suicide attempt, which he thankfully survived. Read More