miCRo: “Devotee” by Shlagha Borah
A prose poem with the juxtaposition of holy sites and vile acts
miCRo: Three Poems by Akumbu Uche
In these poems, Uche masterfully captures the absurdity and isolation of diaspora in a giant urban space.
miCRo: “Jesus Years: A Genealogy” by Pamela Johnson Parker
Pamela Johnson Parker’s triptych spans three generations of labor, sex, and shifting relationships to the land in the mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky.
miCRo: “Murder City” by Kelle Groom
A flash essay that looks back on a friendship and is structured in a masterful way.
miCRo: “Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin Should’ve Interviewed Some Women” by Bibi B.
In a brilliant ekphrastic response to the controversial 2007 memoir Three Cups of Tea, Bibi B. challenges the silencing of women’s voices and lived experiences in literature and art.
miCRo: “Curious and Entertaining Facts about Whales” by Daniel Uncapher
We can speculate about anything.
miCRo: “The Maternal Instinct of Snakes” by Michelle Ross
In “The Maternal Instinct of Snakes,” Michelle Ross metes out just enough information, just in time, from an expertly chosen point-of-view, to complicate the reader’s allegiances.
miCRo: “Stranger” by Chris Watkins
In this ghazal, Chris Watkins skillfully crafts a narrative about a religious family and a speaker who sees things differently.
miCRo: “Motherlode” by Therese Gleason
Gleason invites us inside the psyche of a young speaker grappling with their father’s absence.
miCRo: Two Pieces by Jeremy Paden
& zhe answered, yes, the certain are so very much like tractor trailers
barreling down a mountain speedway
miCRo: “Story of a Breath” by Ryan Griffith
Are the stories that we tell about objects, and the quests for those stories, more important than the objects, themselves? In “Story of a Breath” one object’s history is perfectly encapsulated—and forever inaccessible.
miCRo: “A Boy Lies Face Down” by Dmitry Blizniuk, translated by Sergey Gerasimov
This poem expands the vocabulary of war writing with its stunning breadth of images.
