The Common is a print and online literary magazine publishing stories, essays, poetry, and art with a modern sense of place. Based at Amherst College, we highlight writers and work from around the world.
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"My father calls to tell me the news / The lemon tree is dead"
Examining the relationship between growth, rooting, and travel, Ru Freeman's "Ponder Heart" is a must-read poem in Issue 31. Check it out below and be sure to pick up a copy of our latest issue!
The Common
"After a couple more glasses of wine, Mia looks at me and says with a soft, tipsy smile, 'I keep thinking, how lucky it is that your mom gets to meet Mandela in heaven.'”
Zinzi Clemmons parallels South Africa's nuanced history with her personal life in "Freedom." Read it below!
"I’m going to stay where I am this time, she almost says. I’m learning to work with difficult things."
Liz DeWolf astonishes our Issue 31's pages with a heartfelt story about a woman grieving a relationship in an unfamiliar environment. Read more on our website!
"If haters don’t find us beautiful, why do they woo us? / If they don’t find us beautiful, why do they plot and plan?"
Check out Lynne Thompson's Issue 31 poem "By the time the apocalypse began, the world had already ended, and still," online now!
"She turned, once more, to that nose story, because what was the Russian literary tradition if not a way within which we understand the world?"
Ever wonder how Gogol applies to back injuries? Read Emily Nemens' fantastic short essay in our brand-new Issue 31, at the link below:
"Between the half-healed calf and the sleep deprivation and the ice-pick sensation in her back, she knew it’d be imprudent to lace up her sneakers."
"The Back Meets the Nose" tackles running and Russian lit in Issue 31. Read Emily Nemens' masterful essay below:
Dylan Carpenter’s “Fantasia” is a beautiful, wistful poem about fraught human connection. Read the Issue 31 piece online now. buff.ly/6JANqKM
"the ground would wet into a fresh mirror / which really meant that I was / [God ?]"
Wade into water, religion, and regret by reading Ezza Ahmed's latest poems, "In Place of River I'll Use [God]" and "My Cousin Thinks I Gave Her Nazr," both of which can be found in Issue 31 or using the link below!
“To win you back, I wrote in vain / Of a place only the two of us know.”
Dylan Carpenter's “Fantasia” is a featured poem in Issue 31 of The Common. Read it online now!
The Common
In our latest interview, Preeti Vangani and Jenny Qi speak about process, humor, and Vangani's newest poetry collection, Fifty Mothers.
thecommononline.org/mother-is-a-...
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RU FREEMAN <br> My father calls to tell me the news / The lemon tree is dead She was not / meant to live in his tropical island / She’d left her home there in Amalfi / where her pungent…
ZINZI CLEMMONS <br> "I arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa, on December 2, 2013. My father will join me in two weeks, with my brother to follow a week later. In one month, we will unveil my mother’s…
LIZ DEWOLF <br> From his bag he pulls out one of her sketchbooks and flips it open to a portrait she drew of him in graphite, half his face in shadow. She used to love drawing him, the bold curve…
