Series editor’s note: In Matthew Shenoda’s new poem, “Seeing,” the writer turns to poetry itself, reconstructing its ancient space and meaning, searching for a way to understand the meaning of things. But the poem passes judgment on itself almost instantly, how the sacred ground of poetry is not sacred anymore, because even in its spaces
Literature
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . It’s been said many times already that the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the dramatic economic inequality in New York City—which of
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Lynn Steger Strong’s highly-anticipated new novel Want plunges us into the psyche of a woman for whom the intertwining nature of existence
[A flock of cranes] A flock of cranes crosses an ashen sky the prophet is first to rise black linescleave through the black air a closed alphabet dead trees reappear their roots raise cathedrals my hands translatethe songs of a single stone I was bornnot to losethe movement of their scripture their
The Bear That Stole My Identity Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . If I Had a 3D Printer I’d print out a crocodile & feed itmy left hand,
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . When I was growing up, everyone I fantasized about becoming was blonde. Jessica Wakefield, perfectly popular across Sweet Valley. Britney Spears, queen
A new mother in Mexico contemplates the future—for her daughter, for all of us. On February 1, 2020, as I was giving birth in Mexico City, fifty-four people in China died of Covid-19. That same day, Spain reported its first national case: a German tourist isolated in a hospital on the Canary Islands. The news
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Tracy O’Neill’s new novel, Quotients, is the global story of Alexandra Chen and Jeremy Jordan: their growing love, their sealed pasts, their
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . At some time in every child’s life, the occult makes its mark. Nothing truly Exorcist level, but scary nevertheless. Remember all those
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Behind so many writers and thinkers, there has been a supporter, editor, typesetter, listener, advisor, child-rearer, cleaner, cook, and lover. Many writers’
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . For years, we’ve been taught that racism is rooted in ignorance and can be combated by education. That’s not exactly true. Racism
John Feinstein, when he wrote The Back Roads to March: The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season (Doubleday, 2020), probably expected his chronicle of the 2018–19 college basketball season to arrive just in time for this year’s March Madness tournament. But with the Covid-19 pandemic bringing the season to a screeching
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . I read Octavia E. Butler’s short story collection Bloodchild and Other Stories in the last year of my father’s life. He was
Our Family History, Packed in Mom’s Garage Kelli Jo Ford Author of Crooked Hallelujah Share article Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . “You’ll Be Honest, You’ll Be Brave”by Kelli
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Welcome to Read Like a Writer, a series that examines a different element of the craft of fiction writing in each installment, using
Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . There’s no doubt COVID-19 has forever changed the world as we know it. A small slice of life that had to shift
Photo by John Fisher Manoomin. It is the first Ojibwe word I will learn. It means wild rice, or “food that grows on water.” The sound of it is fitting. Less sibilant than rice. A water word. Mikwendan. Remember. Mashkiki. Medicine. Dibaajimowin. Story. Kimberly Blaeser’s Copper Yearning (Holy Cow Press, 2020) has few footnotes and
Everybody Ejaculates If you read almost any pre-WWI novel, you’ll find liberal use of the word “ejaculated” in moments of intense dialogue. Prior to the early 1900s, authors often used it to denote an exclamation; in the words of the OED, to ejaculate can mean “to utter suddenly.” This literary supercut repurposes these sudden utterances