miCRo: “boysenberry marmalade” by JJ Peña
At the beginning of “boysenberry marmalade,” the nine-year-old narrator tells us about his Tía Nora’s new “atomic guts.”
miCRo: “White People Parenting” by Frances An
In “White People Parenting,” the observing speaker slowly realizes she is also being observed. … “Meanwhile, the baby stares at me—no, it’s staring at Noodles-Alfalfa woman, who is in turn watching me watch them.”
miCRo: “In Blue” by Shruti Swamy
Shruti Swamy’s “In Blue” captures a sense of shifting identity at the core of new motherhood.
miCRo: “Milkfish” by Danni Quintos
Danni Quintos’s “Milkfish” begins with the simplicity of a mother’s pregnancy craving for milkfish.
miCRo: “Bespoke” by Mee-ok
In vivid, tumbling language, this essay asks us to consider new angles—what it means to look up, to be looked down at, to navigate a world built for someone else’s eye level.
miCRo: “The Walking River” by Carl Lavigne
Carl Lavigne’s story “The Walking River” is a wonderfully unsettling portrayal of the natural world gone topsy-turvy.
miCRo: “Scales” by Ulrica Hume
In this layered space, we’re reminded of the slipperiness of loss and how jazz—as entertainment, as art—can intensify and ease the experience of grief.
miCRo: “Professional Makeup” by Julia LoFaso
This piece considers what makes us up and what it means to be a “whole self,” especially in the midst of motherhood.
miCRo: “Florida” by Heather Sellers
In the magical world Sellers describes, we are reminded of the transitory and beautiful nature of being.
miCRo: “White Hot Star” by W. Todd Kaneko
W. Todd Kaneko’s “White Hot Star” paints a richly layered portrait of masculine inheritance.
miCRo: “Have You Eaten Rice” by Jin Su Joo
In Jin Su Joo’s “Have You Eaten Rice” we learn about several key relationships in the speaker’s life through the lens of rice.
miCRO: “Across the Street” by Allison Field Bell
Allison Field Bell’s “Across the Street” unfolds like the recounting of a distant memory. Through a mosaic of fractured images, we understand pieces of the setting and pieces of the violence that was done there…
