
May 2025
Cover Artist: Mike RenaudZhang Xian, tr. by Shangyang FangAfter tonight, what’s left of you is you
moving into my dream
- Omotara James
- Michelle Phương Hồ
- Dan Beachy-Quick
- Chase Berggrun
- Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras
From this Issue
Poem
By Sarah Ghazal Ali
The man that I love rinses our recyclables.
The first man to love me
bears the face of his father,
whom he loved, who loved
his country, who left it,
bereft of all but anger.
I pray toward Mecca in a shirt
sewn by someone who wasn’t paid,
a woman, the hands of many
women with whom I might share
a last name, an adjacent complexion,
a greater…
The first man to love me
bears the face of his father,
whom he loved, who loved
his country, who left it,
bereft of all but anger.
I pray toward Mecca in a shirt
sewn by someone who wasn’t paid,
a woman, the hands of many
women with whom I might share
a last name, an adjacent complexion,
a greater…
Poem
By Martha Silano
Is this the last time I’ll admire the guys
in their neon-yellow slickers, guiding us
to our parking spots before we head up
two flights to the passenger deck,
to the cafeteria where a man in a black derby
and black suspenders nods and smiles
as he nibbles popcorn? In honor of this maybe
last trip to San Juan Island, the last time
I hear…
in their neon-yellow slickers, guiding us
to our parking spots before we head up
two flights to the passenger deck,
to the cafeteria where a man in a black derby
and black suspenders nods and smiles
as he nibbles popcorn? In honor of this maybe
last trip to San Juan Island, the last time
I hear…
Poem
By Paul Tran
Mixed greens. Purple onions. Banana
Peppers. Tomatoes. Avocados. Mayonnaise. Pepper. Sourdough.
A stranger knows
Your mother’s order, has seen her
From the other side of the glass where she is always
Right and a number one
Priority. Someone asked
How she was doing, how they could help her.
Chained in whose dungeon
Were you—whose good boy…
Peppers. Tomatoes. Avocados. Mayonnaise. Pepper. Sourdough.
A stranger knows
Your mother’s order, has seen her
From the other side of the glass where she is always
Right and a number one
Priority. Someone asked
How she was doing, how they could help her.
Chained in whose dungeon
Were you—whose good boy…

Table of Contents
POEMS
- Adrian Matejka
- Stefania Gomez
- Sasha Pearl
- Joshua Bennett
- Paisley Rekdal
- Ross White
- Michelle Phương Hồ
- Sarah Ghazal Ali
- Paul Tran
- Rowan Wilde Riggs
- Vona Groarke
- Tiffany Hsieh
- Dan Beachy-Quick
- Kate Partridge
- Daniel Halpern
- Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras
- John Mulcare
- Heidi Williamson
- Omotara James
- Zhang Xian
- Xin Qiji
- Shangyang Fang
- Lauren Russell
- Mitchell Glazier
- Brittany Perham
- Olga Livshin
- Martha Silano
NOT TOO HARD TO MASTER
CONTRIBUTORS
- Sarah Ghazal Ali
- Dan Beachy-Quick
- Joshua Bennett
- Chase Berggrun
- Shangyang Fang
- Mitchell Glazier
- Stefania Gomez
- Vona Groarke
- Daniel Halpern
- Tiffany Hsieh
- Michelle Phương Hồ
- Omotara James
- Olga Livshin
- Adrian Matejka
- Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras
- John Mulcare
- Kate Partridge
- Sasha Pearl
- Brittany Perham
- Xin Qiji
- Paisley Rekdal
- Rowan Wilde Riggs
- Lauren Russell
- Martha Silano
- Paul Tran
- Ross White
- Heidi Williamson
- Zhang Xian