Tessera

The Sierra Nevada Review

@sierranevadareview.com

Since 1990, SNR has been publishing daring new poetry, short fiction, and literary nonfiction from the shores of North Lake Tahoe. SNR is managed by the students in the low-res MFA program at UNR Tahoe. Read & submit at https://sierranevadareview.com

50 Posts29 Follower 30 Folgt

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3d ago

Read Wendy BooydeGraaff’s @onlybooyskies.bsky.social poem, “After Lunch Surplus,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/wendy-booyde...

"Some restaurants donate
uneaten food, others render

food inedible with chemicals
discouraging the riffraff, a nicer word

for vermin or undesirables, which could
be rodents or people and here’s where I wonder

why we care if someone wants what we
don’t. Even these few lines tucked

under my pillow: couldn’t they be a meal
for some other poem?"

from "After Lunch Surplus"
Wendy BooydeGraaff, vol. 40

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · last wk.

Read “How to Sell Your Poetry Book at AWP” by m.e. gamlem at sierranevadareview.com.

"Orlando understands that being queer requires heavy faith from which there are no sermons sung in houses of worship, no prayers to whisper to ourselves when we are walking home alone, no scripture to recite to each other when we need the spirit to save us."

from "How to Sell Your Poetry Book at AWP"
Essay by m.e. gamlem

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · last wk.

Read Tiffany Yo’s @tiffyo.bsky.social essay, “Indomie for Waiting,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/tiffany-yo-2...

"Maybe there is less to say in Bahasa Indonesia. The verb “to be” doesn’t exist in the language. How can you ask Mom what are we and what are we going to be? Your tutor says that context is everything."

from "Indomie for Waiting"
Tiffany Yo, vol. 37

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2w ago

Read Geoff Wyss’s story, “Personal Best,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/geoff-wyss-2...

"Alice and I go to my wife’s gym to buy the steroids from Tazzy. There’s a name you can’t make up. Tazzy is—well, she’s the endpoint of the experiment involving pharmacology, megaprotein, and spray tanning known as bodybuilding. She has remade herself so thoroughly that she is beyond the touch of fiction, able to be believed only in life, where circumstance places her grunting in front of me every Saturday. At sixty, she looks like a comic-book character who has thrown herself through too many walls."

from "Personal Best"
Geoff Wyss, vol. 36

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3w ago

Read m.e. gamlem’s review of Maggie Nelson’s “Pathemata” at sierranevadareview.com.

"True to Nelson's style she punctuates the quest for healing with the surrounding mundane activities of life, like when 'watching the waiter refill [her] sparkling water from a cobalt bottle' moves her to tears. None of the anecdotes she includes act as subterfuge, but to elicit the constant state of discomfort that occupies every moment we are expected to be as a whole person while an underlying pain persists."

"Pathemata"
Book review by m.e. gamlem

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3w ago

Read John Davis’s poem, “Gaza,” at sierranevadareview.com/john-davis-2...

"Don't speak to me of reason.
I can see the lingering red flesh
of grandfathers splayed like jellyfish
tentacles on the beach, and the broken bones
of daughters scattered like driftwoord [...]"

from "Gaza" by John Davis, vol. 38

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · last mo.

Read Alina Zollfrank’s @zollizen.bsky.social essay, “Skin and Feathers,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/alina-zollfr...

"I wonder what life would be like for people who didn’t know they had cancer. Who didn’t have to deal with ports beneath papery skin, infusions of angry cocktails, scans in hard machines. Who weren’t turned into patients, or numbers on charts."

from "Skin and Feathers" by Alina Zollfrank, vol. 38

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · last mo.

Read Corrinne Bollendorf’s @corrinneb.bsky.social review of “The Chronology of Water,” a movie based on the memoir by our very own Lidia Yuknavitch @lidiamiles.bsky.social at sierranevadareview.com.

"My muscles tense. The sound coming from the TV is too loud. A muffled thumping of someone being beaten in the next room alternates from the speakers followed by quick shots of bright blood circling a shower drain. On the screen we observe a young Lidia and her sister in their childhood bathtub.

I find my body on edge--the sound, the imagery--my focus transfixed. I am physically uncomfortable. I debate whether I should make popcorn. A blank open notebook and pen sits next to me. Yes, it might be helpful to jot down some notes for my review. But less than a minute in I realize notes are impossible. This film demands its viewer to witness. Fuck the notebook. Fuck reviews."

"The Chronology of Water"
Film review by Corrinne Bollendorf

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · last mo.

Read Dylan Gyles’s story, “We Have Crayons at Home,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/dylan-gyles-...

"I have barely touched my chorizo hash. My mother wants me to know that she’s noticed. She raises her eyebrows a millimeter every time I move my fork. My appetite is always the first thing to go when I’m feeling this way. It has been a lean week. I have not weighed myself, but I can tell I’ve lost several pounds since her arrival. I’m bound to lose a few more before she leaves."

from "We Have Crayons at Home" by Dylan Gyles, vol. 36

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · last mo.

Shawnee Shahroody Spitler reads fiction for SNR. Learn more about the Sierra Nevada Review and our team at sierranevadareview.com

meet the team

Shawnee Shahroody Spitler

fiction reader

can't live without

"A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point out frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep."
– Salman Rushdie

why i read + write

"To make sense of the world I experience, to be in community, to participate in the steady stream of imagination, to be inspired, to feel flow, freedom and the divine, to map out the patterns within our existence, to paint with words the arc of the human experience, to wake up, to see and feel with clarity, for the joy, for the beta and alpha brain waves. It’s much about the mystery for me, having faith when writing into the unknown that I will find my way, surfacing the shadows, shining the light on what is present and discoverable and then connecting the dots artfully. We are all walking around as the protagonist in our own story."

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read Emma Bolden’s @emmabolden.bsky.social poem, “Sliding into Scale,” at sierranevadareview.com/emma-bolden-...

"It is all so embarrassing. I mean how small a human body looks / against the sky. I mean the way milk always curdles in fruit tea & how // I always forget. To God we must look like sad miniatures. Toys. Like / the bravest mistakes."

from "Sliding into Scale" by Emma Bolden, vol. 37

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Elena German reads poetry for SNR. Learn more about the Sierra Nevada Review and our team at sierranevadareview.com

meet the team
Elena German
poetry reader

can't live without:

I keep on dying again.
Veins collapse, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
Rotting flesh and worms do
Not convince me against
The challenge. The years
And cold defeat live deep in
Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet
I keep on dying,
Because I love to live.

"The Lesson" by Maya Angelou

why i read + write

I recall my childhood fears being soothed often by my mother’s determined voice: “Elena Barbara, you are not afraid of anything.” And because I am not afraid of anything, I have been writing since I was single-digit years old. Believe in this--I know it is hard to be brave. Every one of us is together in the horror of today and tomorrow, and I write because I cannot be scared to say we can be together enough to save each other, someday.

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read Jayson Iwen’s essay, “Charlie,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/jayson-iwen-...

"Even after the transformation, something as much as love felt impossible, and the light contracted to a single point, a handful of pills, then dark. Dream beyond sense. Dark beyond dream."

from "Charlie"
Jayson Iwen, vol. 38

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read m.e. gamlem’s interview with Adam Gnade @adamgnade.bsky.social at www.sierranevadareview.com/blog/eem21ei...

"After finishing 'Caveworld,' meeting all the fictionalized versions of real people from Adam's life, I was stopped in my tracks. Writing could be punk rock, you didn't have to be some elite from somewhere stupendous. Like music, you could just do it."

Interview with Adam Gnade
by m.e. gamlem

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

A.C. Spectre reads poetry for SNR. Learn more about the Sierra Nevada Review and our team at sierranevadareview.com

meet the team
A.C. Spectre
poetry reader

can't live without

"Please observe, gentlemen, how facts which at first seem improbable will, even on scant explanation, drop the cloak which has hidden them and stand forth in naked and simple beauty."

from "Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences" by Galileo

why i read + write

I read and write because of myth. To me, myth is memory with intention---it's how we remember what mattered enough to tell again. And, in my life, stories have been the hardtack in my survival.

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read Katie Bockino’s story, “Family Dinners at Samba” at www.sierranevadareview.com/kate-bockino...

“What about Samba?” My mom asks no one. She sits on the bar stool in our kitchen, scrolling her phone, and complains that the places we often frequent don’t accommodate her latest diet. My dad stands next to her with his work bag sagging from his shoulder. He won’t put it down until the plan is set, as if his job isn’t over until this decision is made. My sister, meanwhile, is practicing her spelling or long division on our scratched-up kitchen table. She hates Friday nights too, but she never remembers until the end.

from "Family Dinners at Samba"
Katie Bockino, vol. 37

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Jeffrey Slagle reads fiction for SNR. You can learn more about him at www.sierranevadareview.com/jeff

meet the team
Jeffrey Slagle
fiction reader

can't live without

"But the world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget... I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from another's vantage point. As if new, it may still take our breath away."

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore

why i read + write

"Storytelling is one of our oldest traditions. It can brighten our darkest times and teach us valuable lessons about our world and about our past. It can bring us joy and bring us to tears. It is a tradition that has stayed with us across time, cultures, and mediums; it is one of the rare traditions that unites people across all walks of life and gives purpose to endure hardships. The act of reading and writing is contributing to this tradition in the simplest way."

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read Samodh Porawagamage’s poem, “Funeral Rites” at sierranevadareview.com/samodh-poraw...

"[...] So on top of the goldfish grave,
I scatter the colorless Gerbera dust, and then
submerge the Gerbera in the tank. We need
new prayers now. But nobody has got any."

"Funeral Rites"
Samodh Porawagamage, vol. 37

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read Heather McCurdy’s post on “Writing Reclamation” at www.sierranevadareview.com/blog/writing...

"As moms, it's assumed we will drop everything in service of the family. Do the dishes. find socks. Where are the keys? The ask almost always comes before the try. When Jodie says 'poetry is about reclaiming herself,' I can safely assume she's speaking to the reclamation of time for women--especially moms--to decide between doing everything, delaying, or delegating family-work."

"Writing Reclamation"
Blog post by Heather McCurdy

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Sarah Bun reads nonfiction for SNR. You can learn more about her at www.sierranevadareview.com/sarah

meet the team
Sarah Bun
nonfiction reader

can't live without

"Thoughts are like the breeze or the leaves on the trees or the raindrops falling. They appear like that, and through inquiry we can make friends with them."

"Loving What Is: Four Questions that Can Change Your Life" by Byron Katie

why i read + write

"I read and write to engage people and empower them in their own lives. I also like my work to hold the space so that together we can find the strength to pick ourselves back up when things get tough. Reading and writing are liberating. It allows me to examine an undiscovered part of myself and of our world, which is deeply fulfilling. I remember reading Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth." It was a challenging read because the concepts were new. Of the entire book, one sentence—three words — changed me. That was enough. I hope my writing has that kind of impact as well."

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 2mo ago

Read Ìfẹ́olúwa Àyàndélé’s @ifeoluwaayandele.bsky.social essay, “Alien” at www.sierranevadareview.com/ifeoluwa-aya...

"I was born at a time of hiding from the invisible hands of military dictators. I was born to hide. I hide from people. I hide from danger, and maybe too, I hide from good luck."

"Alien" by Ìfẹ́olúwa Àyàndélé

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Beau Noeske contributes to the SNR Blog. You can learn more about him at www.sierranevadareview.com/beau

meet the team
Beau Noeske
blog contributor

can't live without

"You know me, don't you?"

"Yes, of course," said Hazel, hoping he would remember his name in a moment. Then he saw that in the darkness of the burrow the stranger's ears were shining with a faint silver light. "Yes, my lord," he said. "Yes, I know you."

from "Watership Down" by Richard Adams

why i read + write

"From when I first read 'Watership Down' as a kid through today, that passage hits me every time. Showing emotion was discouraged in my upbringing, but I could laugh, cry, and experience the wonder of imagination through great characters in great books. Gratefully, I write to share joy, heartbreak, and wonder with others, especially those who have struggled to stay true to themselves."

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Read Michelle Kicherer’s story, “Global Debut” at www.sierranevadareview.com/michelle-kic...

"I sipped my coffee. Did the thing where I made it seem like I was working. I watched a flat-bodied beetle crawl along the curtain that hung above my desk. That curtain did not even cover a real window because no one had a real window."

"Global Debut"
Michelle Kicherer, vol. 37

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Read Beau Noeske‘s interview with Abby White @abbywhitewrites.bsky.social at www.sierranevadareview.com/blog/snr-int...

"The publishing industry is very centered on the coasts; NY, San Francisco, some in D.C. for nonfiction. It always felt to me that there were enough people who could write about these places, and I wanted to write about a place that was misunderstood. I wanted to bring something to the table that others couldn't, and to represent my home without the stereotype of being sandwiched by cornfields."

Interview with Abby White
by Beau Noeske

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Jodie Sneller has read poetry for SNR since 2024. Learn more about her at www.sierranevadareview.com/jodie

meet the team
Jodie Sneller
poetry reader

can't live without

"I had hardly begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't

you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write"

from "Berryman" by W.S. Merwin

why i read + write

"Whether it be poetry or prose, writing and reading call for exploration. It asks for openness to the world and the consideration of our temporary lives; to honor our individual experience and the vast experience of others. If the mere act of living means to be in conversation with our interior and exterior world, then reading and writing offer aid, a light, a direction for navigating its beautiful, heartbreaking, and sometimes confusing corners."

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Read Allison Cundiff’s poem, “Drought” at sierranevadareview.com/allison-cund...

You stay small. Make yourself a pebble, smaller even. So small you could grind into dust, mix with the wind. So small you could float up up past the gray to the canopy of stars.

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Bethany Hohenberger has read fiction for SNR since 2023. You can learn more about her at www.sierranevadareview.com/bethany and subscribe to her newsletter at thereadingchallenger.substack.com

meet the team

Bethany Hohenberger

fiction reader

can't live without

"The campers are forbidden to lie in the hammock. It belongs to the Warden. The Warden owns the shade."

"Holes" by Louis Sachar

why i read + write

"I write because I have an overactive imagination. Somebody somewhere has to be entertained by the weird scenarios I dream up. I read to experience the world through many different lives."

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Read Bryce Taylor’s story, “A Bachelor in Paradise, Nevada,” at www.sierranevadareview.com/bryce-taylor...

Poca liked the mailroom. The air of possibility about it. He liked the physicality of his evening ritual. His walk through the courtyard. The feel of envelopes in his hand after a day of clicks and pixels in the living room he’d made an office. He scraped his hand inside his mailbox as twilight sifted through the open blinds, but all he felt was the cold metal emptiness. And a flyer.

"A Bachelor in Paradise, Nevada" by Bryce Taylor, vol. 39

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

Read m.e. gamlem’s reviews of “About Time” by David Duchovny, and “Want: Sexual Fantasies” compiled and edited by Gillian Anderson at www.sierranevadareview.com/blog/h1m4lep...

"But in the dark family rooms of my teenage years, cuddled under covers with my best friends and Scully and Mulder, they gave me something I haven't been able to shake since I accidentally became an X-Files fan: a piece of my sexual identity."

"About Time" and "Want
Double book review by m.e. gamlem

The Sierra Nevada Review @sierranevadareview.com · 3mo ago

May Freitas has read and edited nonfiction and poetry for SNR since 2021. You can follow her at @mayfreitaswriter.bsky.social and learn more about her at www.sierranevadareview.com/may

can't live without

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you."

-Maya Angelou

why i read + write

I read to understand the world and educate others through my experiences. I write to leave something meaningful behind. Through teaching, storytelling, and creating, I believe words have the power to connect people while creating a community, preserving memories, and making others feel seen.