Abigail Myers When it became clear that the pregnancy wasn’t viable, the doctor asked what my holiday plans were, a banal question suddenly loaded with urgency; and when I told her, she simply...
Shilo Niziolek “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together today to look into the face of the river.” — Mary Ruefle The week-long heat wave has finally broken, but before it broke, I forced...
Beneth Goldschmidt-Sauer I had a lucky shirt I wore the whole time. I took it off only to sleep and to wash it in the laundry room at the hotel, where the jungly humidity and the smells from the...
Aida Zilelian “Don’t bother your mother this morning,” my grandmother Shaké said. She had her back turned to us, rummaging for items in the refrigerator. My sister Alice and I sat at the...
Lucien Darjeun Meadows Content Warning: This piece contains discussions of suicide and self-harm All around this Baltimore campus, the tulip poplars are beginning to leaf out in brilliant, foamy...
Amanda Nyren I’m at my desk one morning when he first reaches out. As a recruiter, out-of-the-blue messages from near-strangers are common on LinkedIn, but something about this one feels—I’m...
Aisling Walsh My cervix has been weeping for longer than I know. The pearl-pink nub at the neck of my womb is marked by a lesion which releases a constant trickle of blood. The ulcer was first...
Megan Pillow Here’s a secret: every night when I go to sleep, I put my dog Lucy’s collar under my pillow. When I toss and turn, I hear the jingle of the tags. It was the sound of her in the...
Lauren Rhoades I never liked the Solomon story. You know the one. Two women come to the wise King Solomon, both claiming to be the mother of the same baby. King Solomon tells the women that since...
Kim Drew Wright In my earliest memory with my two older sisters, I’m toddling around a South Carolina backyard, past a metal playset with one of those face-to-face swings you have to pull and push...