Reading Room

The Pool

The Pool

I reached the shallow end and searched across the Olympic-sized pool for my father, allowing myself to hope that he had witnessed my lap. With joyful splashes, my sister and brother performed an endless series of handstands near me. Shouts and whistles bounced off the...

dinner

dinner

we sit the two of us you face the tv we sit the two of us you face the tv i take turns glancing at your face as i raise my bowl to drink the soup there are war torn cries from the screen not loud enough to disturb the silence between us the actress on that screen more...

Warp It

Warp It

your lips they twist perceptions in an instant. your lips they twist perceptions in an instant. my ink stained fingertips try to make sense of it and all the things you say, all the things you do you seem to forget. when i was younger you loved me because i had the...

Tseung Family Snapshot

Tseung Family Snapshot

See, the living room’s TV is on. It is always on when the Tseung family is home—and sometimes even when they are out—during, before, and after meals, which are the markers the family uses to record the passing of each day. See, the living room’s TV is on. It is always...

Home Is.

Home Is.

I was ten when I first felt brave enough to say, "sometimes, I just feel like I want to go home... but I don't know where home is" I was ten when I first felt brave enough to say, "sometimes, I just feel like I want to go home . . . but I don't know where home is"...

Art Lessons

Art Lessons

Koller’s novel explores universal concepts of what it means to exist and grow, to root and transplant—as an artist, a woman, a human, a living thing. Art Lessons has the potential to take root in your heart—let it. “Trees, for me, are like humans,” writes Cassie, the...

Painter, Poet, Mountain: After Cézanne

Painter, Poet, Mountain: After Cézanne

Part art criticism, part biography, part lyric journey, Painter, Poet, Mountain studies the intersection of inspiration, experience, and creation that is inherent to various forms of artistic expression. Ut pictura poesis (“Just as painting, so, too, poetry”), perhaps...

If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You

If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You

Pulsing with an old-world, occult feel, Barclay’s poetry draws the reader back in time with its tarot readers, bearded ladies, riding caps, griffins, and witchery. By Adèle Barclay Nightwood Editions, 96 pages, $18.95 2016 “Where are our time machines?” asks the...

Force Field

Force Field

If I think about what I’m doing, I’ll never get off the plane. After all, it’s ridiculous to believe a computer program can predict two strangers will develop a meaningful relationship. It’s even more ridiculous to test that prediction by flying halfway across the...

My Name is a Typo

My Name is a Typo

You know you’re ethnic as hell when your own smart devices immediately autocorrect your Korean name. Apparently, according to Apple, Jiyoon is incorrect. Instead, their devices offer a plethora of alternatives; the most notable being Jason, June, Jouoom (this one...

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ROOM 48.1 WITS END
In times of crisis, we laugh to offer tenderness, to ward off despair— so we can be brave. Gather round ROOM 48.1 WITS END and let humour be a mirror held up to the state of the world as we continue to resist.

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ROOM 47.4 FULL CIRCLE
Step back with Room into the past, to parents, to childhood homes, and to people once known and loved; dig into themes of grief and healing; and ultimately explore what it means to come full circle in literature.

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