“Since”
Emirati poet Amal Al Shamsi’s poem explores nostalgia, longing, and a mother-daughter relationship
Soliloquies
Swiveling between memories in Sharjah, Dubai and Cairo, Noor Tannir’s vulnerable personal essay grapples with themes of anxiety, grief, and family illness
Caspian Sea
Persian poet Leila Farjami writes about a complex, knotted mother-daughter relationship. With artwork by Vivian Hagedorn
I was Eight When They Said Mama was Sick
The latest in our haiku column by Louise Gerodias
Cornflower blind
How do we care for the dead? How much can they see? A hypnotic poem by Samantha Smith
Melon Cola
A poem bursting with surreal images of dolphins, swimming pools, and children “braiding each other’s eyelashes”
Olives
"Catching cloud crumbs" as planes go by forms part of the meditative universe of this new poem by Amal Al Shamsi
Vamos a la Playa
In this tender lyric, Maria Bascunan remembers beach days with her mother in Chile
Edge of a Non-Dream
These photos interrogate our relationships with inanimate objects of play as they are passed down or gifted from mother to child
Go Back, Go Back
A lens-based photo project, “Go Back, Go Back” explores the spatial, historical, and technological ambiguity of memory
Psychics
A personal essay on astrology, alcohol, and a dark family history by Sophie Ewh
Don't lie to me, mother
A poem on how women inherit and pass down patriarchal rigidity.