Cincinnati Review

In “There Aren’t Many Predators in the Aquarium” Emily Weber pushes the central conflict to the periphery of both the scene and the narration.

Cruising becomes regal in proper light, / or lightlessness. If only they could see us / here: knighted by kinder swords

The Canadian comes to us with blue-black eyes and a forehead like the cliffs of Santorini. We think that he is Greek, but the Canadian is quick to correct us. He is Jewish, and he is standing in my doorway, and he wants to know the way to Giorgos’s taverna. Yianni looks the Canadian up …

In “Hemiboreal” Elsa Nekola draws on setting to power the story, imbuing the narrative with energy and meaning.

Here, everything is shaped by qualities of light, by context, by choice: “You will see that where there is no shape, there can be every shape too.”