Return
"My father is long dead, and I was / faithful to the last. Still, postcolonial / that I am, I have built my own myth / of departure,"
found under mother’s bed
"one end adorned by rhinestone and sparkle. the other open."
7-Eleven
"My mother’s lament: four girls, but the little one will not eat her food."
Cheongsam Woman, Still Trapped in the Forties
"Finders keepers, losers weepers — the cliché was true here."
a sonnet is a lot like that apartment we shared
"because memories get written into corners / and a room has way more corners than a person"
“Waiting in Bed” and “Eternal”
". . . very good."
Lieric
"Why listen to God of Definitions, anyway? It's you and me who have the power here."
Babyland
"Mom says if I’m a dragon I’ve got fire enough in me to make the beaches here warm, so maybe I should share more. I haven’t thought of a good come back yet."
Rituals
"That’s how / it works— / whichever hand / wrecks the largest / bit of bone / wins / the right to wish."
Kathmandu, are we heart broken?
I am angry. You had no right to seize our peace. What right did you have to destroy…
Tree Rings, Gutted
"(I’m trying to apologize to the trees.) (I’m trying not to let the rings be parenthetical to the story.) (The rings make the story.) (I’m here to study the story.)"
The Observer Effect
"One day, much later, I learned that life was just too plain for him. He had to squeeze and shape it like clay, until he felt it was something worth living."
Measuring Memory
"I think it’s a gas, / or a vapor, or the dust / swept up from the front / of a corner store—"
Tender Hoof
"Of course, I knew what was wrong with all of this: the cows were lonely."
So Says the Admiral
"The Lord of that land would give him all he wanted. The Admiral asked for anything as if receiving a great favour."
It Must Have Been
"They trusted us with the money, why not the keys too? There was no one around except the ghosts."
The Canyon
"Showing me the chicken wishbones she carried in her pockets for good luck, breaking them into halves of a full moon to make a wish."
Something to Stand On
1. Your veins show through, the skin softens and puckers, a pink wrinkly bud. Folding in the middle,…
Circadian Rhythm
Image credit: Marius Dzialek
MTV News: A Letter To Jonathan Melvoin
"You had to go and die that summer. You were all MTV could talk about. We didn’t come here for this. "
Assistant to the Magician
"Naked bulbs are strung over the bar. It makes me feel romantic, in the way that only old, broken things can."
Side View of House, Winter
"perhaps his camera sought the places / mine were banal / where hyacinths bloomed / of his hopes or nostalgias"
The Wayback Playlist – Fall 2022
A playlist to accompany our fall 2022 Wayback issue, crafted and curated by issue contributors and Longleaf Review staff.