absence of the latina intellectual: some abstract theory for your ass
New in milk & vodka, a searing poem about agency, sexuality and discrimination of women, by Kim Morales.
Dietary Intake
Read the first installment of our new Haiku column by Louise Gerodias.
CLASS
“poetry cannot exist without a question / of utility” – what is the point of poetry in a post-capitalist world?
Japanese Connections at the Louvre Abu Dhabi
A review of the new Japanese art exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Coloring in the Lines: Diversity in Publishing and Mainstream Literature
From the heart of New York’s indie publishing scene, Vamika Sinha critiques the lack of true representation and diversity in the publishing industry.
Sylvia and Ted
Reimagining Sylvia Plath’s life and relationship with Ted Hughes through poetry.
self-ish
“In a TV show, I’d be a supporting character you might feel conflicted about. I have spent too many moments of my life aspiring to be white” - inspired by Lyn Heijinian, Vamika Sinha prods at encapsulating identity in writing in this new prose poem.
Paterson by Jim Jarmusch Is My Favorite Horror Movie.
A film review as a poem, Arthur De Oliveira considers this unusual Jim Jarmusch movie.
For Sabina
“I want to split each person I meet with a scalpel / Like a surgeon, and let the galaxies come pouring out” – Zoe Jane Patterson seeks out a life lived like artwork.
A KKK Kidnapping, The Love Laws, and The Shape of Water
Zoe Jane Patterson weaves together Arundhati Roy’s writing with the film The Shape of Water, to make a commentary about love, race and unspoken social laws.
The Eiffel Tower Dangles: Writing a City
Writing about a city, just as writing about any subject, is a way of documenting it within history, for giving it a voice, for making it human almost, letting it breathe and move and speak. It may have dreams, it may have fears, it may have flaws and disease.
The Eyes of Those in The Bear Clan: A Review of the Short Story Fleur
The natures of various characters in this short story by Louise Erdrich are embodied by the creatures they master, writes Zoe Jane Patterson in this fiction analysis.
ambergris entry three, dated 20 april 2018
A young Nepali man has a street encounter in his hometown. Read more in his diary
Freshman Fumblings, First Love: A Review of The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Vamika Sinha reviews the bestseller bildungsroman by Elif Batuman.
Out of the corner of my eyes
Sculptures, statues, surrealism — Chiran Raj Pandey’s new short story swivels from cafes to museums to Mughal emperors.
ambergris, entry 2 dated 8 april
Don't Let Me Be Lonely: Depicting Abstract Emotions in Writing
How can one distil or display, accurately, the complexity of something like love, or loneliness, in a single text? Vamika Sinha analyzes the work of Jamaican-American poet Claudia Rankine, and her poetic diagnoses of modern American society.
Walking
A soft, melancholic love poem while walking through a cold New York City.