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,...
miCRo: Emilia Phillips’s “‘You Should Write a Poem about That,’ They Say”
[Editors' note: We're proud to present our second miCRo feature. Every Wednesday we'll spotlight a short piece that packs a punch—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid works. Chosen by our assistant and associate editors, miCRo features will be taut, timely, and...
miCRo, the video!
In celebration of our first miCRo post this week and in anticipation of our second next week, here's a video promoting our weekly online feature, designed by our wonderful video guru, Ben Dudley! https://youtu.be/khS0fLYmfaY
miCRo: Laura Maylene Walter’s “Break Apart”
[Editors' note: We're proud to present our first miCRo feature. Every Wednesday we'll spotlight a short piece that packs a punch—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid works. Chosen by our assistant and associate editors, miCRo features will be taut, timely, and...
