Sarah Wu

August 2023 Poetry Feature

New poems by LESLIE SAINZ, L.S. KLATT, and MICHELLE LEWIS

 

Table of Contents:

  • L.S. Klatt, “The Alchemist”
  • Michelle Lewis, “Vain Tenderness” and “The Land of Rape and Honey”
  • Leslie Sainz, “At the Center of the Story and Utterly Left Out”

 

***

The Alchemist
By L.S. KLATT

My neighbor really has nothing to do
but mow his grass & watch television.
It’s the quiet life for him. The adhesive

August 2023 Poetry Feature
Read more...

Ala Fox on “Ramadan in Saint-Denis”

Apple Podcasts logo

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Listen on Google Podcasts.Google Podcast logo

Spotify Logo Green

Listen on Spotify.

Transcript: Ala Fox Podcast

Ala Fox speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Ramadan in Saint-Denis,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Ala talks about weaving together the threads of her experiences living in Paris into an essay that explores a lot of questions but doesn’t try to answer them. The piece dives into the dynamics between neighborhoods, and between native Parisians and immigrant communities, and explores the possibility of creating and sustaining love across language barriers and distance. Ala also discusses why she was nervous about publishing the essay, and how it would be received in the Muslim community.

headshot of ala fox with cover of issue 25 next to her

Ala Fox on “Ramadan in Saint-Denis”
Read more...

Into the Woods

By ANNE P. BEATTY

person with an orange bag walking through the dirt paths in a sun-spotted forest

Stone Mountain, North Carolina

A mile into the woods, I am always slightly afraid. Fear’s lace knots the cuff of an otherwise lovely afternoon. Nights, when I peek out of the tent, the moon is a bright friend too far away to help.

Into the Woods
Read more...

The Magnetic Pull of Place: An Interview with Rosanna Young Oh

Jane satterfield headshot Headshot of Rosanna young oh

JANE SATTERFIELD and ROSANNA YOUNG OH—poets who met at the 2023 Poetry by the Sea Global conference in Madison, CT—connected via email between Baltimore and New York City, and reflected on the power of inherited narratives, their shared fandom of Jane Eyre, sustaining creativity, and Rosanna’s newest collection, The Corrected Version.

The Magnetic Pull of Place: An Interview with Rosanna Young Oh
Read more...

The Common Magazine Announces 2023-24 Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow

(Amherst, Mass. August 4, 2023)— Award-winning, international literary journal The Common has announced Sarah Wu ’25 as its 2023-24 Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow. The fellowship was created in 2018 with a $50,000 gift from Sally Wood, whose daughter and late husband, Thomas E. Wood, an avid reader and gifted poet, attended Amherst College. The fund annually supports one student intern who possesses exceptional editorial promise and leadership skills.

The Common Magazine Announces 2023-24 Thomas E. Wood ’61 Fellow
Read more...

Translation: Excerpt from A SPACE BOUNDED BY SHADOWS

By EMINE SEVGI ÖZDAMAR
Translated from the German by YANA ELLIS

Piece appears below in both English and German.

 

Translator’s note

One of the many things that drew me to A Space Bounded by Shadows is the novel’s overarching theme of exile and wandering between worlds — imaginary and real. The narrative weaves the rich tapestry of an artist’s life between art, relationships, and politics and their declaration of love for literature, film, and theatre. As an immigrant myself, the book captured me immediately because it explores how mother tongue and second language can merge, creating a new, enriched language and overcoming speechlessness in exile.

Translation: Excerpt from A SPACE BOUNDED BY SHADOWS
Read more...

Podcast: Matt Donovan on “Guy with a Gun”

Apple Podcasts logo

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Listen on Google Podcasts.Google Podcast logo

Spotify Logo Green

Listen on Spotify.

 

Transcript: Matt Donovan Podcast

Matt Donovan speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his prose poem “Guy with a Gun,” which appeared in The Common’s fall issue. Matt talks about the conversation that inspired the poem—an encounter with a Sandy Hook parent that highlights the complex gray area around guns and gun ownership. He also discusses how his poetry collection about the issue of guns in the US evolved from a nonfiction book proposal, his aims in undertaking the project, and his job running The Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College.

a picture of matt donovan next to issue 23's cover of buttons

Podcast: Matt Donovan on “Guy with a Gun”
Read more...

Slaughterhouse-Vibe

By LISA ROSENBERG

 

an image of a woman among old artifacts. the woman's back is to the photographer and she is facing the open door

 

Hydra, Greece

There are no streetlights between the old slaughterhouse and the edge of town. The road that links them feels longer than its few hundred barren meters, proceeding above a rocky slope that ends in channel water—the former landing place of blood and entrails, arriving by chute while dogfish gathered. Six nights per week, a young woman makes her way along this route, tiny phone-light in hand, walking toward the main village on the Greek island of Hydra. Her name is Marina. I’ve known her since she was a child.

Slaughterhouse-Vibe
Read more...

For Acedia

By ROBERT CORDING

Thomas Aquinas prescribed fervent prayer,
and I do pray, but, oddly, a bird has been
my best medicine when I find myself shrunken
and absent, as I do each year as the anniversary
of my son’s death approaches. And so I turn again
to this: a dipper I watched in Zion’s Virgin River.

For Acedia
Read more...