Issue 25 | Fall 2021
marble chunk
Shin Yu Pai
it rested in a parking lot in North Seattle
the unhewn hunk of quarried stone touched
sheets of rain, stood up to windchill
while stored outdoors, absorbing
the elements, for nearly a month
I passed the uncarved block each day
on my morning run, it rarely strayed
from its place atop a wooden palate
except that time the stoneworker shoved
it there beneath the eaves of his building,
yellow nylon straps still binding it, then
one day it was gone; some days I slowed
down to talk to it like a potter coaxing
clay, trying to find the grain, staring at
its character, black veins, silver flecks
before cut and polished to make
a master vanity in West Queen Anne
About the Author
Shin Yu Pai is a poet, essayist, and visual artist. She is the author of several books of poetry, including Virga (Empty Bowl, 2021), Ensō (Entre Ríos Books, 2020), Sightings (1913 Press, 2007), Aux Arcs (La Alameda, 2013), Adamantine (White Pine, 2010), and Equivalence (La Alameda, 2003). She served as the fourth poet laureate of the city of Redmond from 2015 to 2017 and has been an artist in residence for the Seattle Art Museum and Pacific Science Center. Her poetry films have screened at the Zebra Poetry Festival and the Northwest Film Forum. Her personal essays have appeared in Zocalo Public Square, Tricycle, Atlas Obscura, Seattle Met, CityArts, and YES! Magazine. She lives and works in the Pacific Northwest where she serves as program director for Town Hall.
Prose
Bomarzo Cecilia Pavón, translated by Jacob Steinberg
Sister in Basement, Manny Again Elsewhere Robert Lopez
Visitations Caroline Fernelius
Solution Linda Morales Caballero, translated by Marko Miletich, PhD
Auditions for Interference Theory Emilee Prado
Life Stories Robert(a) Ruisza Marshall
Out There Daryll Delgado
The Embassy Khalil AbuSharekh
Shaky From Malnutrition Mercury-Marvin Sunderland
Weatherman Gillian Parrish
The Taco Robbers From Last Week Steve Bargdill
Poetry
Epigenetics Diti Ronen, translated by Joanna Chen
i once was a witch Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi
Thralls Kevin McIlvoy
Mine Brian Henry
Catastrophic
marble chunk Shin Yu Pai
shelf life
Rebirth Tamiko Dooley
Before the Jazz Ends Adhimas Prasetyo, translated by Liswindio Apendicaesar
After Jazz Ends
Scent of Wood
Cover Art
Untitled Despy Boutris