COVER FEATURE

Notes from the Cataclysm

  • A black and white photograph of a young couple, seen from outside somberly looking at the photographer out a bay window

    Cataclysm

    By Rilla Askew
    Rilla Askew
    Photo: Quarantine portrait. Tulsa, Oklahoma. March 22, 2020, by Joseph Rushmore A writer of historical fiction, located in the US heartland, considers the pandemic’s languid creep and an…
  • A photograph of an urban apartment building.

    Mapping My Mother

    By Anna Kushner
    Anna Kushner
    Sunset in Queens, New York, May 5, 2020. Photo: Jay Santiago / Flickr In isolation, a writer connects her mother’s attempt to protect her from “never-being-able-to-leave-Cuba-itis” to her own des…
  • A photograph from inside a room. Curtains block much of the sunlight from the window but a narrow band paints the floor with light. A ghostly half-image of a person looking at the wall can be seen mid-ground

    Hands

    By Hawre Khalid
    Hawre Khalid
    Photos: Hawre Khalid THE MORTAR LANDED close, maybe two hundred meters away. Then, I saw only black smoke filling the sky. Till that moment, I had never seen smoke so big. As if fire…
  • A photograph shot from within a colannade looking out at an empty plaza

    Not Pregnant

    By Elaine Vilar Madruga
    Elaine Vilar Madruga
    Photo: Havana, Cuba by Tiago Claro / Unsplash In this work of creative nonfiction from Cuba, plague is something common shared with those who lived in Thebes. I carefully open a pregnancy te…
  • A black and white photos of empty tables and chairs on a patio overlooking a restless sea

    Keeping My Mother Alive

    By Gianni Skaragas
    Gianni Skaragas
    The Greek government announced plans to reopen the vital tourism sector as the country is likely to suffer the worst recession in the European Union this year. Photo: Gianni Skaragas In Greece, a…
  • Images of a honey bee, a honey comb, and a spoon inside of hexagonal frames

    Water with Sugar

    By Carlos Pintado
    Carlos Pintado
    Honeycomb Photo: Shilo Labelle / Unsplash, bee photo: Ante Hamersmit / Unsplash,  Spoon photo: Jen Blair In quarantine in South Beach, Miami, a writer looks to literature—and bees—while contempla…