The Common
A Modern Sense of Place: Stories, Poems, Essays & Images
- Website
- thecommononline.org · all feeds from this site
- Feed URL
https://www.thecommononline.org/feed/
Read it in your FeedListing reader
Or add to: Feedly Inoreader Raw feed
Latest posts
-
A New Female Gothic in Intan Paramaditha’s Night of a Thousand Hells
LAUREN YU-TING BO Paramaditha does not abstain from widely acknowledged gothic tropes entirely...and yet, Night of a Thousand Hells contains mainly the horror of reality. We are told from the beginning that it's the story of three sisters and that the youngest sister Annisa,…
-
For the Love of Loons
JAMES K. BOYCE The human fascination with loons spans cultures and generations. For many who live in the north woods or spend their summers there, it has become a love affair. In 2025, the common loon was named “Bird of the Year” by the American Birding Association.
-
Hyena Boys
SAMUEL KỌ́LÁWỌLÉ The hyena boys came to Bonaventure, which was serendipitous, because he was used to avoiding the world before the world spurned him. For one, his white albino skin flecked with dark spots made him a regular target of mockery.
-
If It Wasn’t for Heroin
AMIYA MORETTA My Umatilla grandfather / who had one leg, lived down the road, / hobbled to her heroin loyally. / That’s how / my mom and dad, neighbors whose parents / were good friends and fellow addicts, / met as kids, played together / on Frieda Street, those mornings
-
At night my soul leaves
KAREN CHASE up it goes into the stars, for / sustenance. I open / my eyes and pray— / You have returned within me, my / soul with compassion. / Modah ani lefaneka melechai / chai vekayam shehehezarta // I get out of bed, / join the revolution.
-
Laila
ALLYSON NOMAN When I see the Sikh in my memories, he becomes my cousin Amir; a distinct echo in their facial features merging into one. Amir and I were told we were meant to marry from a young age. As children, we’d been running on the deck of his home one warm afternoon when I…
-
Father, Land
DANIELLE SCHOON This will always be my claim to glory, despite its awful circumstances: the moment that I flew. I will highlight this part of the story when repeating it to my mother and friends back in the States, to take the edge off. But, like any glorified moment, this one…
-
Trojan Horse
M. B. MCLATCHEY It was a gold-seal ruse. A double-/ dealing so sublime the gods ordained / it. Settled into their stadium seats, / they wagered on their favorites. Helen, / the imposter bride, circling and circling / the gifted horse. / Her Central Casting / lines to the shadows…
-
No One Is Going Anywhere
JUDITH BAUMEL Who can know my fury / at Jacob’s tricks and God’s consent. / After the devastations and the theft, / after the deceptions and the heartbreak, / after the last blessing and the scene at the Jabbok, / it was still the beginning of the story / when two wealthy…
-
The Department of Home Economics
HANNAH GERSEN We talked in Sophia’s sunny kitchen, sitting at a round wooden table that was scuffed and nicked by three generations of Chafin children. We drank decaffeinated iced tea mixed with lemonade, the only beverage Sophia can stomach these days.
-
Thank You for Your Attention to This Matter: Mariachi
TINA CANE Like yesterday / I could have cried with relief driving around / this little city running errands with mariachi rancheras blasting / on my radio making the everyday feel extravagant like being / in a film about running errands or some other earlier version