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Leila Chatti
The Thirtieth Year after Lucille Clifton I had expected to be an ordinary woman. Dreamed of daughters, beauty, life made whole by them. Then the year of losing came, the … Read the rest
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Danez Smith
Dear Time, how many knees wasted at the wrong pulpit? thought i worshipped the future, but it was pleasure all along. thought my prayer aimed for peace, but it was … Read the rest
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Kathryn Nuernberger
What Is Past George Washington Carver was fascinated by the yucca, and why shouldn’t he have been? It sends up narrow, sharp-tipped leaves like a ring of swords around stalks … Read the rest
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Guest Editor Tyler Mills
“Taken together, these essays tell a story of the city, of the self, and of the art of nonfiction: what the ‘I’ can do with language while telling the story.”
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“Shaped Language Is Strangely Immortal”
“Indeed, the best poets recognize that language, like a single atom, must be ruptured in order to unbridle all the energies buried deep inside.” — Sarah D’Stair
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An Interview with Christine Barkley
“‘Wilded’ began as a conversation with other poems I had written, partially as a condemnation of common themes to which I found myself returning without any resolution.” Interview by Maddy Grieco.
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West Branch 108, Spring/Summer 2025
In this Print Issue: Poetry by Christine Barkley, Patrycja Humienik, Anna Lena Phillips Bell, Gary McDowell, Asa Drake, Sara Potocsny, Michael Dhyne, and McLeod Logue; Fiction by Nwanne Agwu and … Read the rest
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West Branch 108, Spring/Summer 2025: Digital Issue
Cover Art: Ni Los Perros Que Jamás Me Olvidaron, Ni Los Caballos, Ni Los Abrazos Que Me Dan Mis (#3, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 19, 25), by Edison … Read the rest
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Christine Barkley
Lacunae The road back was the straight and the six-lane wide and the unending even at the skyline. The exit was ceremonial; to pass on not an option. To stay… Read the rest
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Laura Sackton
21 Years After the U.S. Invasion of Iraq, I Confront Mary Oliver’s Ghost in the Middle of a Genocide I ask her if she’s picked any flowers today, and what… Read the rest
A Thrice-Yearly Magazine of Poetry, Fiction, Essays, and Reviews