After Jennifer S. Cheng 1: the sea captured in a glass 2: a homophone for having enough for leftovers, a synonym for abundance 3: the fish, who have already forgotten you. It’s not personal 4: where memory fails, there’s still imagining 5: you. Not as an ocean but outside 6: glass and/or acrylic
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The Arrest, in all its surreal narrative trappings, supercars, and Hollywood theatrics, wants to know if words can save us in a dystopia.
Winner of the EXTINCTION Essay Contest, selected by Lacy M. Johnson
CHARLES YU is the author of three books, including the novel How to
I loathed the place from the first hour — indeed, I loathed it even before I had stepped across its threshold, which should tell you something about the mind’s sick propensity for
When we came out of our apartment the humidity punched us in the face like we’d unsealed a wind tunnel or opened a blast door. In my mind a deep, otherworldly howl
Driving through a cold spring drizzle, I noticed a young woman, smoking. She was standing under the eaves of a non-descript office building, wearing heels and a short, clingy black dress, her arms, neck,
Still Life with Lack of Nesting The oaks in New Orleans were restless, their rootslike fat fingers rummaging under sheets, pushing sidewalk up to sea level. The streetcar was free—or at least,
Somewhere in the endless spill of yellow sand between Phoenix and Tucson, we drove in silence, the roar of the long highway lulling me to sleep. With my head against the window,
PLCAA: Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Broad immunity granted to gun manufacturers and dealers. An impenetrable legal shield. And by impenetrable, I mean exceptional in how few exceptions Congress permits
At Sunday lunch, Jim’s dad almost chokes on a mouthful of mashed potatoes. His mom said she wanted to visit her sister in Florida over Christmas. His dad swallows. “No way in
Eden Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays brought up in belief before it was mine bible thumping, backneck kinda indoctrination on our hands and knees before the Lord that everlasting ache in the rib of Eve subservient, superpassible by the
The synthesizer forgetting and remembering itself. The four slow notes of time; descending breath of God.It helps that the fish get stranger as you go, and the children either fall asleep or silent. Young
Monk I Driving the I-90 I met a Monk. Monk and I became friends of a material wealth. One day Monk pricked a flower from between the highway cracks and told me to put