SOCIAL ISSUES 5/10

Jun 24, 20232 min read

Translation Memory, and Your Principle of Reduction? a Poem by Desmond F. X. Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé

“True translation is transparent: it does not obscure the original, does not stand in its light, but rather allows pure language, as if...

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Jun 16, 20231 min read

Make a Difference! a Poem by D.R. James

—a villanelle to commencement speakers everywhere Tonight, fatigue’s grim flower unfurls, but Gandhi, gunned down, had this to say: “Be...

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Jun 9, 20231 min read

Whales, a Poem by Burt Rashbaum

You loved our songs. named us by our flukes, watched entranced as we danced on the waves but we knew we were still endangered....

Stationery, Short Story by Kenneth M. Kapp

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Jun 2, 20237 min read

Stationery, Short Story by Kenneth M. Kapp

Harry pneumatically lowered the front of the bus. John smiled, went along with the joke, and hunched over as if he were an old man. He...

Paula Pivko

May 19, 20233 min read

The Monster, a Poem by Paula Pivko

2020 was the cruelest year breeding ice-cold storms from pain and hatred long kept hidden away from the sun’s light. Something caged...

Loving My Enemies, a Poem by Clara Klein

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May 12, 20231 min read

Loving My Enemies, a Poem by Clara Klein

When trouble lies ahead And evil shows its face, I am urged to retribution, But fight a different war. I do not consider them enemies,...

Katie Annarino

May 5, 20236 min read

In Between and Far Away, an Essay by Katie Annarino

The large wall of windows on the fifth floor of the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center overlooks the corner of a congested...

Jessica Noel Grissom

Apr 28, 20232 min read

Walking on Eggshells, a Poem by Jessica Noel Grissom

“Walk cautiously”, he warns, daring her to miss a step. She moves with quietness and grace, carefully avoiding the eggshells. She’s...

RC deWinter

Apr 21, 20231 min read

All Our Pretty Words, a Poem by RC deWinter

your truth may not be mine nor mine yours in fact, they may be diametrically opposed the only unarguable truths in a digital world those...

David Forrest

Apr 15, 20232 min read

Listening to Writers, a Poem by David Forrest

A writer visited my school. No cape or pipe but you could tell. I still have the notes, dictated word for word: If you want to write then...

David Forrest

Apr 7, 20232 min read

Echoes & Walls, a Poem by David Forrest

Saturday. I ask How are things in Damascus and you smile and say Fine and tell me news of your brother and sister and it’s the same news...

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Mar 24, 20231 min read

Voyage, a Poem by P. Matile

The neurotic phrasing of the African dreamers, Flies up to the sky And suddenly intertwines, Like the flight of swallows, Watching from...

Susan Wenzel

Mar 10, 20231 min read

Say Her Name, Part I, a Poem by Susan Wenzel

They say they can’t say her name because they can’t prove if she was murdered on tribal land or not. They say they can’t say her name...

And It Was Good, a Poem by Marjorie Maddox

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Feb 24, 20231 min read

And It Was Good, a Poem by Marjorie Maddox

Not the green-grey sludge snaking to the river’s edge. Not the sun’s overdone orb baking the snake to a dry bed of dust. Not the hands of...

Susan Wenzel

Feb 10, 20232 min read

Positionality/Metacognition/Rhetoric, a Poem by Susan Wenzel

(Dianna Good Sky and Rosalie Fish mentioned with permission) Who am I, I asked myself, to write about something I know nothing about? Who...

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Feb 3, 20231 min read

Dill, a Poem by Erin Covey-Smith

It is hot, hotter than it was ever meant to be. The air chewable, our thoughts limp as the beanstalks in the garden. Night a stultifying...

Escape from Trash Life, Staten Island 1998, a Poem by Tanya Tuzeo

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Jan 27, 20231 min read

Escape from Trash Life, Staten Island 1998, a Poem by Tanya Tuzeo

i woke with the sun that summer / reeking dump familiar with its liquefying salty ozone and human marzipan / and rollerbladed to the...

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Jan 13, 20231 min read

Loss of Power, a Poem by Gary Beck

In the land of broken dreams conflicting forces conspire to thoroughly divide us into clashing groups, irreconcilable politicians,...

Dance of the Cafeteros, a Poem by Russell Willis

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Dec 16, 20221 min read

Dance of the Cafeteros, a Poem by Russell Willis

Far above the level of the sea an Axis of Coffee straddles the mountains of Columbia For the cafeteros there is but one centuries-old...

Magnolia and Cherry, a Poem by Marjorie Maddox

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Dec 9, 20221 min read

Magnolia and Cherry, a Poem by Marjorie Maddox

-Spring 2021 Buds burnt by cold, they open anyway, both pink and blackened, facing the spring. Courage, not innocence: magnolia and...