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"In the wake of blurring seasons and rotations of the sun, I had come back here, ages 15, 16, 17, now 19, always to the same place, always to repeat the same exercises of loneliness." Aidan Cahill's dispatch reflects on a nature trail that defined his youth. Link below!

An Exercise in Loneliness

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"Two feet against tile, push off, glide through his bulky shadow. Kick my warning, inches from his hip." Elana Lavine's "Sharing the Lane" describes the uneasy encounter between a night swimmer and an older man. Read the piece below! buff.ly/eqer5FI

Contributor Adam Scheffler recently published So This Is What It Feels Like: Empathy in the Poetry of James Wright! The book makes a renewed case for Wright’s importance by examining how his empathy for others shapes his individual poems and guides his larger career. Link below!

So This Is What It Feels Like

James Wright (1927–80) was considered one of the major poets of his era, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1972, even though the intense emotion of his work co...

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"The narrator grapples with her language and identity, exposing the painful betrayal of belonging for those who exist on the fringes of two cultural worlds." Britta Stromeyer reviews Egana Djabbarova’s "My Dreadful Body," exploring themes of identity and belonging. Check it out below!

Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body: Exploring the Wounded Self and Belonging in Azerbaijani Diaspora Literature

Review by BRITTA STROMEYER Divided into eleven chapters named after body parts, the novel’s structure claims the female body as a battleground for cultural and personal struggles, using…

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"And so to watch you at the lake / last night, to see the way you look, / healthier, astonished me." Comfort between two people knowing each other is the heartbeat of Pater Campion's Issue 31 poem, "Both Sides of Winter." Explore how this comfort mirrors and refracts below:

Both Sides of Winter

PETER CAMPION Silent, you walked next to me. / And I was there to comfort you, / but doing what you had to do / and walking on, you seemed to find / new confidence I want to call / grown up,…

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The summer keeps speeding along, and The Common's interns are speeding through their to-be-read stacks. Discover what The Common team is reading this month on our website!

What We’re Reading: July 2026

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"Eudora writes to William about roses / Mr. Hennessey’s Gloire Dijon" Listen to the new recording of Ru Freeman's "Ponder Heart," a short poem based on the correspondences between the two great writers. Click the link below to hear the full audio!

Ponder Heart

RU FREEMAN 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…

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"This is how I sit down to write. I imagine the words along that ascent. They spring from the hunter’s throat." Check out "The Kestrel," Ernesto Pérez Zuñiga's newest dispatch from the Salceda Valley, Madrid, translated by Olivia Baes from the Spanish.

The Kestrel

ERNESTO PÉREZ ZUÑIGA I often see it hovering against the wind. Motionless in an impossible point in space until the kestrel insists on tracing its outline. Its own will against the void.

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Marvin Garbeh Davis, Sr., a recent contributor to The Common, has released his debut novel, Man, Rubber and the Devil. Learn more or order the book below! buff.ly/lP8ljMA

"He gets in the water piece by piece, ankle thigh nipples, grunt. Shoulders below the same surface, it’s obscene, like slipping into my bed." So begins Elana Lavine's "Sharing The Lane," where a woman's peaceful night swim is interrupted by a male intruder. Read the story below!

Sharing The Lane

ELANA LAVINE People who swim at night just want to be left alone. Ladies flapping in flower-molded swim caps. Swim team dropouts, mute and sinewed. Their flip-turns soak the deck, thighs like…

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“The animosity and suspicion toward immigrants have been adopted at the highest political levels. Art is my way to express and hopefully counteract the narratives.” Read January O'Neil's interview of Joseph O. Legaspi by clicking the link below!

Amphibious Living: January O’Neil interviews Joseph O. Legaspi

JOSEPH O. LEGASPI Amphibians, of course, are a class of invertebrate, ectothermic animals that include frogs, salamanders, and newts—creatures that initially start life in water and, as they…

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"all artists are the children of loss. / my teacher says. all artists call // to betrayal & make a new world / in the bruise." Fatimah Asghar explores anger and the process of healing in "[no one can take my anger]." Continue reading this and more below!

[No one can take my anger]

FATIMAH ASGHAR no one can take my mundane / memories, us trying to fit / three suitcases in the back / of an uber, everyone mad / at the american way we take / up space. and us in the doctors /…

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"There’s some nice sugar water in store for Number 452, if he’s a good mousey" In her latest story, "Husbandry," Lauren Acampora weaves romance, regret, and jealousy into a lab setting. Don't miss this must-read in Issue 31! Pick up a copy or check it out using the link below!

Husbandry

LAUREN ACAMPORA The following hours, he refreshed his email compulsively in pockets with cell service, sweat saturating his clothing and a feeling of dread settling in his gut. His heart raced,…

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"Silent, you walked next to me. / And I was there to comfort you" Rhyming across different times, Peter Campion's new Issue 31 poem "Both Sides of Winter" looks at sickness and recovery through each other's twin language-rhythms. Read the full piece below:

Both Sides of Winter

PETER CAMPION Silent, you walked next to me. / And I was there to comfort you, / but doing what you had to do / and walking on, you seemed to find / new confidence I want to call / grown up,…

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We recently had Issue 31 contributor Juliet McShannon on our podcast to talk about her latest story, "Rescue," and how different stages of her life have shaped her writing. Listen using the link below!

Podcast: Juliet McShannon on "Rescue"

JULIET MCSHANNON Juliet McShannon speaks to Emily Everett about her story “Rescue,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. The story follows a woman on her search for a lost dog through a…

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"SOMETIMES I LOSE MYSELF / Because I feel I am a country / And not a person." Read more of Magdalena Arias Vásquez's translation of "Self-Portrait in The Caribbean" by Paola Assad Barbarino below!

Self-Portrait in The Caribbean

PAOLA ASSAD BARBARINO Sometimes I am emboldened, / I decide to stand in the people’s balcony / I decide it is Maundy Thursday I decide to place a priest behind me that can speak to the people…

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The Common is revamping and greatly expanding our book reviews section! With a focus on new releases from independent presses, and of course on titles with a strong sense of place, we're hoping to bring attention to the best books you haven't heard about. Visit the link below for more information!

Book Reviews

At The Common, we’re primarily interested in publishing reviews of books that feature a strong sense of place and have been released by a small, independent press within the…

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Marvin Garbeh Davis, Sr. has launched his debut novel, Man, Rubber and the Devil. Set on Liberia's rubber plantations, the novel explores labor, faith, family, exploitation, and resilience through the lives of ordinary workers whose stories are rarely told. Learn more below! buff.ly/lP8ljMA