Q and A for All Africans – According to First – D.M. Aderibigbe

D. M. Aderibigbe   Q and A for All Africans On a B train to Kenmore One evening, I sing with my black voice. Two voices from behind fall in love with my accent. Two boys come to me, they own the voices—their skin that of a chicken whose feathers have been pulled off with […]

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Nonce Ode to an Oxymoron – Karen An-Hwei Lee

Karen An-Hwei Lee   Nonce Ode to an Oxymoron How could I ever love such a contrary figure of speech? Say we never vowed ourselves to a neurosis of nonce verse,                 of fever chills or brazier darkness.Say we drove to a landlocked shore, rolled up our windows at night,listened to the bright surf pounding […]

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Latchkeys – Su Hwang

Su Hwang   Latchkeys When headlights cast shadowpuppets against the livingroom wall, my brother and I didour best to keep upappearances: he’d scurryto turn off the Nintendoconsole while I hung upon my best friend. He splayedopen his biology textbook, I leaptto the upright Yamaha to playthe first few notes of Für Elise:a perfectly choreographedintermezzo for […]

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Klezmers on Tour – Yael Massen

Yael Massen   Klezmers on Tour               after Josef Gusikov The cow breaks the barbedwire fence, feasts on grassessweet & tall in the minefield. No Man’s Land made metaland rusting in overgrowth.Josef watches each hoof plod the cow’s great heft like a wirewalker. Brown Spots! Mameleh!Hey! He calls, sets down his suit- case: inside the […]

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