miCRo: G.C. Waldrep’s “new year’s poem”
[Editor's Note: Today's miCRo is a special New Year's treat; we'll be back with more short, tasty miCRo pieces later in January. Happy New Year!] Assistant Editor Caitlin Doyle: In “new year’s poem,” G.C. Waldrep engages with the work of Joseph Cornell,...
miCRo: Doris Cheng’s “Earthling”
[Editors' note: The miCRo feature will take a month-long hiatus, with the exception of a special New Year's Day poem. Thank you for your support in 2017; see you in 2018!] Managing Editor Lisa Ampleman: As we told her when we accepted "Earthling," Doris Cheng...
miCRo: Mahreen Sohail’s “Iddat”
Assistant Editor Molly Reid: In Mahreen Sohail's hybrid piece, "Iddat," a definition evolves. What seems initially to be prohibitive—a list of men a widow is required to avoid during the prescribed Islamic period of mourning—becomes celebratory, a reclamation...
miCRo: Hugh Martin’s “Iraq Good”
Assistant Editor Caitlin Doyle: In “Iraq Good,” poet and veteran Hugh Martin presents a scene that bristles with tension. As an American soldier stationed in Iraq, the poem’s speaker paces with his fellow servicemen outside of the Sadiyah police compound while...
miCRo: Kristine Ong Muslim’s “Holocene: Microfilm Reel 82”
Assistant Editor Molly Reid: In Kristine Ong Muslim's devastating piece, she doesn't allow the reader to look away, and what she shows us—a timeline of human "advancement," from early hominids to our eminent extinction—is part-history lesson, part-prophesy, and...
miCRo: Kathryn McMahon’s “Boom”
Associate Editor James Ellenberger: "Boom" reads like a vivisection of a Studio Ghibli film. It's magical, beautifully rendered, and haunting. What strikes me the most is the piece's aural effect: McMahon layers vowels ("Now it looms, quiet, as water should...
miCRo: Brian Ma’s “Shadows on the Korean Peninsula”
Assistant Editor Caitlin Doyle: Brian Ma's nonfiction piece "Shadows on the Korean Peninsula" artfully engages difficult political material via evocation, juxtaposition, and figurative suggestion. Moving between a lyrical meditation on Moon Joon-yong's art...
miCRo: Michael Alessi’s “A Small, Silent Assurance”
Assistant Editor Molly Reid: Michael Alessi's "A Small, Silent Assurance" raises more questions than it answers—what happened to this marriage? What is the nature of this man's condition? And those poor turtles, why???—but these questions lead us on a treasure...
miCRo: Jess Smith’s “Path of Totality”
Assistant Editor Caitlin Doyle: Jess Smith's "Path of Totality" presents us with a moving, complex, and multilayered exploration of what it means to see and be seen. After viewing the solar eclipse, the poem's speaker reflects on her absentee father ("My father...
miCRo: Traci Brimhall’s “Heart Ghazal: An Essay”
Associate Editor James Ellenberger: Traci Brimhall’s “Heart Ghazal: An Essay” takes the signature move of the ghazal (the Radif, repetition) and gives it some room to breathe. This allows Traci to expand the (stetho)scope of the piece while still maintaining...
miCRo: Jolene McIlwain’s “Drumming”
Assistant Editor Molly Reid: Jolene McIlwain's "Drumming" captures a tender moment between a waitress and customer, Dusty and Elbert, both broken in their own way, in the way we all are—the pain we try to fold into distracting shapes, the rhythm we tap along...
miCRo: Chetna Maroo’s “A Hard Jar of Gunpowder”
Associate Editor James Ellenberger: We’re pleased to present Chetna Maroo’s short fiction piece “A Hard Jar of Gunpowder” for this week’s miCRo feature. By beginning with allusions to Babel then moving onto smattered quotations from Kepler about attraction,...
