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December 2022 Poetry Feature: Kevin McIlvoy

December 29, 2022 Poetry

Editor’s note: In October a friend told me about Kevin McIlvoy’s recent passing, days after I had read and been deeply moved by the following poems. We are honored to offer them to you here.

—John Hennessy

Kevin McIlvoy, known to his friends as Mc., published six novels, a story collection, and a collection of prose poems and flash fictions. A long-standing faculty member in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, he was my colleague but, more importantly, my friend. Mc. loved books and, like many writers, he loved them so much eventually the only way to love them more was to add to them by writing. These poems were sent out prior to his death on September 30, 2022. He is missed by many, but thanks to his work, his voice is still with us.

—C. Dale Young

November 2022 Poetry Feature: Anacaona Rocio Milagro

November 25, 2022 Poetry

This month we welcome ANACAONA ROCIO MILAGRO, whose “Nine Twelve Poem” appears in our new print issue.

Anacaona Rocio Milagro is a poet born, raised and living in New York City, uptown Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Writing poetry since the age of four, she earned an MFA in Poetry at NYU’s Low Residency program in Paris, an MPH at Columbia University, and a BA with a double-major in Social Anthropology and Journalism/Creative Writing, and a minor in Art from Baruch College/CUNY BA Program. Her “Nine Eleven Poem” is now part of the Smithsonian Museum’s 9/11 archives. Her poetry has been published in The BreakBeat Poets Latinext Anthology, Narrative Magazine, LitHub, Oh Dear Magazine, and Raising Mothers to name a few. Her poem “Stillmatic” was released as a spokenword/Hip-Hop/Jazz single on all streaming platforms. Her father is from the Dominican Republic and her mother is from St. Thomas, The U.S. Virgin Islands. She is the single mother of two—Nirvana Sky and Zion.

October 2022 Poetry Feature

October 27, 2022 Poetry

New poems by our contributors: JOHN FREEMAN, KEETJE KUIPERS, and JOSEPH O. LEGASPI.

Table of Contents:

John Freeman | “Borrowed Finery”

Keetje Kuipers | “Washing My Daughter’s Clothes”
| “I didn’t know what I didn’t know”

Joseph O. Legaspi | “Longyi, a Lyric”

August 2022 Poetry Feature: Nathan McClain—from PREVIOUSLY OWNED

August 25, 2022 Poetry

This month we welcome back TC contributor NATHAN McCLAIN, whose new collection, Previously Owned, will be published by Four Way Books next month.

Nathan McClain is the author of two collections of poetry—Scale (2017) and Previously Owned (2022)—both from Four Way Books, a recipient of fellowships from The Frost Place, Sewanee Writers Conference, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and a graduate of the M.F.A. Program for Writers at Warren Wilson. A Cave Canem fellow, his poems and prose have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Guesthouse, Poetry Northwest, Zocalo Public Square, The Critical Flame, and the Plume Poetry Anthology 10. He teaches at Hampshire College and serves as poetry editor of the Massachusetts Review.

Where the View Was Clearer

Had I not chosen to live there—
among the oaks and birches,

trees I’d only ever seen in poems
until then…spruce, pine,

among the jack-in-the-pulpit
(though I much preferred “lady slipper”),

July 2022 Poetry Feature

July 28, 2022 Poetry

New poems by our contributors: ZACK STRAIT, FELICE BELLE, STEPHEN HAVEN, and MITCH SISSKIND.

Table of Contents:

Zack Strait | Fourth Ultrasound
| Dreams to Dream

Felice Belle | postcard from the moon
| the distance between you and me

Stephen Haven | Love at 60
| Sugar

Mitch Sisskind | The Ignoramus
| Only Death Wows Me

Fourth Ultrasound
By ZACK STRAIT

Like two passengers
in a wrecked automobile:

our eyes are fixed
on the sonogram screen—

an upside-down window
with no wiper blade

to sweep away the rain—
as the technician

May 2022 Poetry Feature

May 26, 2022 Poetry

New poems from our contributors AKWE AMOSU, JUDITH BAUMEL, and ELIZABETH METZGER

Table of Contents:

Akwe Amosu | New citizen

Judith Baumel | Irij

Elizabeth Metzger | Talking to Jean about Love

| Talking to Jean about Love II

February 2022 Poetry Feature

February 24, 2022 Poetry

New work from our contributors: MARK KY UNGSOO BIAS, SARA MUNJACK, and DANIEL TOBIN

Table of Contents:

Mark Kyungsoo Bias | Visitor

| Meeting My Mother

Sara Munjack | Friendship Talk after Love-lives

Daniel Tobin | The Door

| Prayer in Passing

Poems from the Arabian Gulf: Natasha Burge, Danabelle Gutierrez, and Hera Naguib

October 4, 2021 Poetry

The Common’s fall issue, out October 25, includes a portfolio of writing from the Arabian Gulf countries. The poets in this feature—NATASHA BURGE, DANABELLE GUTIERREZ, and HERA NAGUIB—all have poems in that portfolio.

The Common Magazine · Self Portrait (In A Constantly Changing Landscape)

Table of Contents

Hera Naguib | “The Sentence”

Danabelle Gutierrez | “Self-Portrait”

Natasha Burge | “Baqala”

June 2021 Poetry Feature

June 24, 2021 Poetry

Our June Poetry Feature includes new poems by our contributors: LISA HITON, ROMEO ORIOGUN, PATRICK RIEDY, and CORRIE WILLIAMSON.

Table of Contents

Lisa Hiton | “Sodomite”

Romeo Oriogun | “The Unsung Shore”

Patrick Riedy | “Ice Fishing”

Corrie Williamson | “Kissing the Good Green Earth”

Translation: Hong Kong Poet Derek Chung

June 3, 2021 Poetry, Translation

Poems by DEREK CHUNG 鍾國強

Translated from the Chinese by MAY HUANG 黃鴻霙

Poems appear in both Chinese and English.

Translator’s Note

Cha chaan tengs, local diners that serve comfort food all day, are a cornerstone of Hong Kong culture. At a cha chaan teng, you can order beef satay noodles for breakfast, a cup of milk tea stronger than any Starbucks coffee, lo mai gai (glutinous rice and chicken wrapped in a lotus leaf), and more. To many Hongkongers, cha chaan tengs evoke a sense of familiarity and nostalgia. Indeed, it was precisely these feelings that drew me, a Hongkonger living in America, to translate Derek Chung’s (Chung Kwok-keung) remarkable poems.

Chung wrote “The Cha Chaan Teng on Fortune Street” in 1996 about a Cha Chaan Teng he visited in Sham Shui Po while running an errand. He no longer remembers what the errand was for, he writes in a blog post, but “words have helped [him] remember concrete details of that cha chaan teng.” At the same time, he also wonders whether there is something about a place that is lost forever once it no longer exists, no matter what we write down. As evocative as the details in this poem are, from the “soft clink” of utensils to the “grease-soaked hair” of a waiter, the poem ends on a note of uncertainty, unsure of whether words can safeguard memory.