miCRo: “Murder City” by Kelle Groom
A flash essay that looks back on a friendship and is structured in a masterful way.
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: Two Pieces by Jeremy Paden
& zhe answered, yes, the certain are so very much like tractor trailers
barreling down a mountain speedway
miCRo: “The Mint and the Bees” by Joel Long
Joel Long’s flash nonfiction piece “The Mint and the Bees” meditates on the crucial interdependence between pollinator and flower.
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: “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: “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: “Fried Rice” by Tina S. Zhu
Don’t let the ghosts take your names, Ba said over the hiss of the wok harmonizing with the ghosts. Don’t let them steal your spirits.
miCRo: “Curious and Entertaining Facts about Whales” by Daniel Uncapher
We can speculate about anything.
miCRo: “Motherlode” by Therese Gleason
Gleason invites us inside the psyche of a young speaker grappling with their father’s absence.
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.
miCRo: “Lighthouse” by Kenneth Tanemura
In “Lighthouse,” work is inextricably linked to place: a place to which the speaker is a newcomer, with no ties to bind them to the landscape.
