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Plain China

National Anthology of the Best Undergraduate Writing

Fiction, Volume XI

In Memory of Atlas Moon

Marisa Barnard

Fiction, Volume XI

Swimming Lessons

Claire Doll

Poetry, Volume XI

Oceanic Oracle

Summer Hagan

Poetry, Volume XI

American

Juan Ortega

Poetry, Volume XI

Orare por ti (I will pray for you)

Juan Ortega

Poetry, Volume XI

Staring at My Bookshelf

Angela Vodola

Fiction, Volume XI

Red Snow

Hobson Wadsworth

  • Fiction, Volume XI

    In Memory of Atlas Moon

    Marisa Barnard

     6502 , Quinn Keck When I was seven years old, I looked out upon a graveyard and read each name written in marble letters. To my horror, I realized I…

    1 March 22, 2024
  • Fiction, Volume XI

    Swimming Lessons

    Claire Doll

    Baptism, Mia Silvan-Grau I watch my tears trickle into the river. They fit right in, running with the current, salting the summer air, adding to the flow of water coursing…

    1 March 22, 2024
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    Oceanic Oracle

    Summer Hagan

    Drum Heads, Kalen Keir after My Octopus Teacher    sensesdilate opento a dense depthunknown. assuming a glimmerof indigo, I dance weightless, no bones.a light-patterned seafloor: my personalshow. the semelparous loss who lent me…

    7 March 22, 2024
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    American

    Juan Ortega

    Old Man Feeding Birds, Daniel Mrotek What makes an American?Is it the men and women who spend daysworking under the sun, with nothing but a water bottle,whose fingers are blistered…

    0 March 22, 2024
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    Orare por ti (I will pray for you)

    Juan Ortega

    Morning Prayer, Jenny Brum Que dios te perdone y cambie tu menteFor something I am, that I did not chooseAdan y Eva, hombre y mujer es lo que es simplementeI won’t…

    0 March 22, 2024
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    Staring at My Bookshelf

    Angela Vodola

    Afternoon Tea, Ericka Veliz Sun and moon switch places.I’ve aged, and so have you.Years went by like minutes,as they always seem to do. The open window leaks poison.The foul wind…

    0 March 22, 2024
  • Fiction, Volume XI

    Red Snow

    Hobson Wadsworth

    Ripped, Breanne Sparta Red snow. School was out for red snow. We were just asleep last night, and out of nowhere, like a late Christmas present, the red snow was…

    0 March 22, 2024
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    Radium Girls

    Gwydion Miller

    Geraldine, Tara Piscatelli I’m thinking about those girls again—       the ones who painted watch faces to glow in the dark    tapering radium-tipped paintbrushes with their lips.  Some…

    1 December 6, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    Scarecrow

    Chelsea Anderson

    Untitled, Jenny Nguyen The freezing plastic shovel bends  at the handle as it penetrates  bright red snow. It screeches  loudly as it scrapes  pale pink matter  off the road. He…

    2 December 6, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    離開是為了回來—A CANTONESE LOVE SONG

    Ethan Luk

    Volatile, Anna Koeferl The house is on fire,And I’m not leaving yet. I’m not going to save the cat lying next to the split star fruit.Or the two origami cranes…

    0 December 6, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume XI

    To the Zombie at the Intersection of Starbucks and Dollar Tree

    Alexis Noe Ocegueda

    Afterparty 2, Mandi Vivacqua No, not the one drowned in rainbows of paint and ink at every footstep No, not the one that has their jaw hanging on for dear…

    2 December 6, 2023
  • Fiction, Volume XI

    We Have Nothing If Not Time

    Chelsea Panameño

    Throwback, Abigail Jackson The heatwave was announced the day before the solstice, the day after my brother and I arrived at our mother’s summer home.  We did what we thought we…

    0 December 6, 2023
  • Fiction, Volume XI

    Sitting Under Starry Skies

    Claire Doll

    Winter, Jonathan Agee The parking lot of my old high school looked the same, even in the dark of winter. It was haunting to see the building lit up only…

    1 December 6, 2023
  • Fiction, Volume XI

    Laurel in Full Bloom

    Chelsea Panameño

    Into the Ether, Nicky Meaux The bark appeared on the first day of spring, when the winds were starting to pick up, but the worst of the rain had not…

    1 December 6, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    My Black Life Matters

    Bright Nights City Lights, Jackie Phuong Ta   I can’t find the words  that won’t escape my lips to reach paper.  Setting up equipment feels unreal,  even creating content doesn’t feel…

    0 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    Rain

    Midnight Blossoms, Sydney Walker pandemic – (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world. I.this year the cherry blossom trees bloom later than they ever have.what does that mean except that…

    1 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    Fracture

    Phoenicopteridae Urbana, Jaxon Ke’anoi Bonsack The Atlantic Surfers sprawled on their backs waiting for the sun to dry them out. Layers peeling in long strips. Just like sun-dried tomatoes. Stringy…

    0 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    Not for the Week

    ano nakikita Mo?, harana On Monday the carrots mom packed me were soggy and grey where their shoes should’ve been. I threw them to seagulls and Ms. Villin kept me…

    0 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    Beets

    Late Onset Adolescence, Breck Hickman you’re cutting beets grownin someone else’s garden andyou look at your hands, staineda deep magenta, and you knowthe shadow will remainafter your attempts to wash it…

    1 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    it is one thing to keep a garden

    Untitled, Julia Sub for Lola Tita and another to water the three potted plantson the shoe rack, stalk of baby bamboopricked by cactus and shaded by heartleaf,all of it garden…

    2 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    Because we drove past

    Eclipsed, Scott Gathright Because we drove pastThat crack in the highwayWhere a glimpse, a bone-clenchedFistful of pennies, of locked doors,Pressed hard, thumbed insistentlyInto who I thought I am.Was gone before I…

    2 August 24, 2023
  • Poetry, Volume X

    Rain on a Tea Party

    Little Architect, Natasha Hirt Solemn willow, sole witness to tea party stragglers left under a leaking sky. Cups of porcelain dribble coffee childishly mimed as sweet nectar and tea laden…

    1 August 24, 2023
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