The first work of Sheila Heti’s that I read was her book How Should a Person Be?, a novel about being an artist—or, more specifically, a novel about being a woman and an artist, and how those two things inform and sometimes resist one another. The book was extremely polarizing; some reviewers found it riveting in its experimentation, while others found its content indulgent and its lack of form irritating. I was enamored by it, as Heti has an extraordinary ability to capture the convergence of creativity and self-doubt while voicing thoughts most people believe are unsayable.
Like How Should a Person Be?, Heti’s latest novel, Motherhood, isn’t for everyone. For people who turn to books primarily for their plots, this is not the one (or the writer) for you.…
...continue reading
Everyone likes to think they have a great sob story, but few of us do.
Can you imagine the look in a mother’s eyes as they glaze over when her daughter says to her, heart pounding out of her chest, “Mom, Dad hits me. Can you make him stop?”
Can you imagine how painful silence can be?
What if that girl grows up? What kinds of partners does she end up with? Can you imagine pouring your soul out to a man about how your daddy would come into your room at night and do unspeakable things to you, only to hear from him a few weeks down the line, “You know, I should be hitting you. But because I love you, I won’t.” Or if that same man begins to sense you gaining some courage and pulling away, so he makes up an elaborate story about a former girlfriend of his who died in a car accident?…
...continue reading
In her dream
she dips her fingers,
languid, in the river
that flows, liquid silver,
by the window
of the fourth floor
without entering the decorative
wrought iron that adorns
the sky.
She understands,
the ineffable,
the improbable and the inexplicable
nature of this moment
and she smiles, mischievous smile,
at the radiant people
who lazily pass
armed with oars
and bathing suits
striped by the sun.
With delight
she contemplates the lucky
parade, joyful multitude
and she remembers
another encounter
with friends
on a train with broken
floorboards
through which wild
flowers exploded jubilant.
And, upon waking,
she discovers
Rome painted
by the daily beauty
of bread and circus.
– Amy Nocton…
...continue reading
It’s not Michael’s fault they made him the captain of the football team, even though he wasn’t the quarterback. They said he hit guys “like a Mack truck” and his coaches liked how fast he understood new plays. Eric, the quarterback, wasn’t too happy about it either, said so during halftime the last time they played their local rivals, the Hedton Hounds. Michael pointed out he never wanted to be captain in the first place. But if Michael was a Mack truck, Eric was a Volkswagen Beetle, and the other team members were a bunch of demolition derby cars.
Now everyone in his high school is campaigning and voting for him for homecoming king. He doesn’t even plan on attending the dance (he has to attend the pep rally, the coach won’t let him out of it).…
...continue reading
I slept with a faceless man
and his shadow. The seas know
nothing of the case. His caresses,
arrows that I taught to soar.
His manhood, sullen.
He hit me with a hammer
on the coccyx. We lived
that spiteful health
with which hunger kills
when laying with another body.
I had a shipwreck in my bed.
He desecrated all my saintly shafts
wrapped in God and bed sheet,
he did not ask permission.
We talked about celestial decorations
and icons. But it ended when the
saint and sign was given.
– Sergio Ortiz…
...continue reading
Ana Maria Spagna lives with her wife, Laurie, in a remote community in the North Cascades accessible only by foot or boat. She is the author of several books, such as Reclaimers (stories of people reclaiming sacred land and water), the memoir/history Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus (winner of the River Teeth literary nonfiction prize), The Luckiest Scar on Earth (a novel about a 14-year-old snowboarder), and three collections of essays: Potluck, Now Go Home, and Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going. Her writing on nature, civil rights, LGBTQ issues, and life in a small community has appeared in many journals and magazines, including, Orion, Ecotone, Hotel Amerika, the Normal School, Creative Nonfiction, and Brevity.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with .…
...continue reading