It’s Late
By Poetry Issue 95
It’s been a while already since the last pair of animals climbed into the ark. An admirable job. The solitary ones have remained on earth, the unpaired, the ones marked with a red felt pen by God. The chill of the first drops disperses them onto the avenues slippery from the port and docks already…
Read MoreO Men
By Poetry Issue 95
the white-haired child is there, upright in the mire a son of Adam seeking the orient within seeing himself in the eyes of the pack that combs the countryside, spurred on by brass horns his fortune has no bounds he pores over matter which unnerves his world especially the timid ones striding on ibis legs,…
Read MoreMay My Right Hand Forget Me
By Poetry Issue 95
when somebody knocks on my door it’s God asking for shelter make yourself at home and recite for me please a sacred song from your native land you who live in exile in the West and the wistful lines of your ancient poem in what language do you speak to mortals in groves we’re promised…
Read MoreA Shroud for All Time
By Poetry Issue 95
an old saying goes that we live out our days clad in a shroud thrown over one shoulder no need to be God to confirm the mystical world of the spirit and angels heaven and hell the almond tree in full bloom and all the rare people who speak on behalf of ineffable truths to…
Read MoreThe Stand-In
By Short Story Issue 95
1 C AROLINE WAS PADDING, distracted and shoeless, through the weekday stillness of the empty church when she came upon Desmond’s wife standing on the other side of the back entrance. Framed by the double glass doors, Kim looked uncharacteristically small in an out-of-season winter jacket. Caroline offered up pastoral smile no. 6: Ironic Appreciation…
Read MoreA Conversation with Joy Kogawa
By Interview Issue 95
Joy Kogawa, born in British Columbia in 1935, has authored poetry, novels, children’s fiction, and a memoir. Her first books were poetry collections—The Splintered Moon, A Choice of Dreams, and Jericho Road—published between 1967 and 1977. During World War II, when Kogawa was six, the Canadian government confiscated her family’s home, and they were sent…
Read MoreCloud Shapes and Oak Trees
By Essay Issue 95
What…had been plain, dense cloud cover now took on landscapelike formations, a chasm with long flat stretches, steep walls, and sudden pinnacles, in some places white and substantial like snow, in others gray and hard as rock…. They hung over the town, muted red, dark-pink, surrounded by every conceivable nuance of gray. The setting was…
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Ways of Proceeding:
The Art of Three Contemporary Jesuits
By Essay Issue 95
IF THEY ARE HONEST, most art historians will cop to a youthful encounter that launched them into studying art professionally. The experiences that got me started were both religious and artistic. Preparing for confirmation as a Lutheran teen, I was struck by the heroic illustrations of Martin Luther in our class materials. I thrilled to…
Read MoreA Conversation with Gene Luen Yang
By Interview Issue 95
Gene Luen Yang is the MacArthur genius grant–winning author of graphic novels including Boxers and Saints and American Born Chinese. He also writes graphic novels for kids (the Secret Coders series) and for major comic book publishers (Avatar, The New Super-Man). He is profiled in issue #95. Image: In Boxers and Saints, the two…
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Secret Identities, Shifting Shapes:
The Graphic Novels of Gene Luen Yang
By Essay Issue 95
ONE OF THE THREE NARRATIVES woven through American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang’s debut graphic novel, opens with Danny, a blond, blue-eyed teen who seems to be on the cusp of moving forward in his relationship with his longtime crush. The also blonde, blue-eyed girl is blushing just when Danny’s mom calls from the other…
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