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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

    Dance on the Ashes of Your Enemy

    Dorothy, Ciera Land A few hours before Ortega taught me how to dig a grave, he was visited by El Corte — the Cut One — but my friend didn’t warn…

    2 October 22, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    Neon is lighter than air

    Dusk in the City of Angels, AJ Favorito I spend a cold summer searching                                  …

    1 October 22, 2021
  • Nonfiction, Volume IX

    In Brevity

    Rose-Covered Glasses, Margaret Wright      My Grandmother’s diary entry for September 8, 1943 reads:     “Italy surrendered. Permed my hair.”      Growing up, I spent most of my time with her, our houses…

    1 October 22, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Habits

    Dancer, Rose Horell The elephant pressed up against Sadie where she sat on the couch, its rough white skin scratching her thighs. It was too big to fit on the loveseat,…

    2 October 22, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    The Boatman

    Pink Creek, Louise Rossiter Winter ends, and the lake thaws: frostscape turned fairyland,flies flit through lilies, the surface serene. The boatmanunhitches his crafts at the coming of spring; the heat…

    0 October 22, 2021
  • Nonfiction, Volume IX

    When We Went to 1989

    Poppies and WD-40, Chloe Moulin I remember when Julia and I hopped a wall by the river to recreate her parents’ wedding day. The only thing between us and that convent…

    0 October 22, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    Ode to a Venn Diagram

    How Long Will You Love Me, Eric Tran Where else can politicians And cannon balls meet Besides steely, destructive, And inappropriate for a wedding? About the Author Tanner Whitney  · University…

    0 October 22, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Oh No, It’s Me, Your Resident Advisor, and I’m Already Asking How You’re Feeling

    An Ode to Breakfast, Emma Lassiter We pass each other in our reshall and I ask, immediately, how you’re feeling. You stare, dazed, thinking 3:48 am is the wrong time for…

    3 September 18, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    How to Appreciate Films

    Fever Dream, Emily Lawson Do not watch films only once or twice.  Study them like that third trimester sonogram. Try to find the family nose.    Watch film noir.  Embrace the…

    1 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Horseplay

    Rust Rorschach, Tim Embertson Melika, because she was older, taught us all the uses for newspaper: spread on the table before a fishbone dinner. Trim squares to use as toilet paper.…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    The Village That Raised Me

    The Unexpected, Anasstassiya Selezneva It took a village.   One house next to another, four in a row.   Cousins and uncles on each end  with grandparents in the middle.   It took a…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Just Listening

    This Ain’t Belle’s Rose, Adriana Barker      Granstan didn’t much like driving on the Trace. Says they’re too many young bucks looking for love on that stretch. After a drink Granstan and…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Trying

    Skin Mask Replica, Hunter Louis       The Missouri heat was damp and strangling, and her mother’s A/C was broken, so Soph spent most of the spring semester of 1L…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Nonfiction, Volume IX

    Tense

    The Complexity of Detail, Olivia Offutt I found the tense of life in my college French 102 class that I  took because everyone I knew was in Spanish and French…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    Burning Stranger

    Untitled, Robert McGrady You, stranger, smell of rotting bananas but you smile like my mother after she covers the dining room table in candles and closes the lights. You stagger-step…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Escape Attempt

     Behaviorism, Arjun Saatia Zara Envada wasn’t prone to panic or nervousness.  Or any kind of fear at all, actually.  She didn’t see much point to it.  But one who was…

    1 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Stones on a Hill

    Pink Creek, Louise Rossiter   [TW: Depictions of death and suicide]     Wren August 4, 1996   I know most people say life is too short, but I think…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Poetry, Volume IX

    The Plains of Shinar

    Haku, Anna Hiltner oh, but cain, i was never going to be what they  prophesied i would become. this mud hardened  into brick too soon and now columns lie prone …

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    Before You Crash

    Gas Station, Oscar Zenteno “Please choose your payment type,” said the voice from the self-checkout machine. The letters blinked at Fatima. The store, alive with noise a few moments before,…

    1 September 18, 2021
  • Fiction, Volume IX

    The Crocodile Hunter: Reborn

    Catacombes de Paris, Elle Griffiths “It was the summer of 2016,” Alex said, stalwart against the bonfire light. “No one fucking listened to me. I told ’em it was all…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Nonfiction, Volume IX

    A Dominicana’s Guide to Surviving a PWI

    Immersed, Abigail Nasari Mami… todos son gringos. You arrive. Take in the brick buildings decorated by fresh-cut grass and towering trees before you take in how much heavier your skin…

    0 September 18, 2021
  • Nonfiction, Volume VIII

    Deafening

    Captive, Cynthia Lee My parents and I have spent all day at Boston Children’s Hospital. I’m not sick, but you wouldn’t know that from their reactions. I run off to watch…

    1 May 6, 2021
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