"The greed and inequality in our country is so rampant and the cost of living is so absurdly high we literally can’t continue business as usual..." Tiffany Graham Charkosky interviews Courtney Maum about Alan Opts Out (Hachette). ➡️ buff.ly/janU1wr

"The ground brittle beneath me—I yearned for it. And my god, / his voice—when he raised his voice— / it sounded like thunder." From "The Great Flood," new poetry by Marcus Tsai. Read the full poem now at buff.ly/11zPSMo

"If a letter is any good, it should also alter the atmosphere a little. It should arrive with some evidence that the world is not finished explaining itself." Our next Letter in the Mail comes from writer @scottlambridis.bsky.social, author of St. Ulphia's Dead. ➡️ buff.ly/hKHxkHK

"I don’t speak the language of my parents, grandparents, and ancestors. But, it’s still a part of me." From "A Map of Languages, Dead and Dying," a new essay by @loriyeg.bsky.social. ➡️ buff.ly/tFJ5gmW

"You’ll be blind for only a few seconds, standing there stupid, but that’s plenty of time for me to lift off the ledge like a giant eagle, come down on your head feet first, and smash in your skull." From "Fat Lip," a new short story by Julie Odell. ➡️ buff.ly/b2iqf9z

"Penny was disappearing too slowly, and the others feared the lethargy was catching." From "Penny's Head," a new short story by Gretta Trafficante. ➡️ buff.ly/6Xm73zi

"To be free, for me, is to no longer consider the consequences of my body and skin and hair and tongue..." Author and professor Jason Reynolds attempts to answer the question, What is Freedom. ➡️ buff.ly/q9Pz3LU

"The extent to which the human heart seeks to create splendor in a place of certain doom cannot be hyperbolized." From "A Month Without a Map," a new essay by @elissaaltman.bsky.social. ➡️ buff.ly/asBJH4H

"Even the orchid is deteriorating. No cocktail of water, sunlight, fertilizer, French or English word has been successful in reviving it." From "Bird-of-Paradise," a new short story by Farihah Ahmed. ➡️ buff.ly/Ahw7pEj

"I am blurry to all who witness me from above. / I wave and they think I’m dancing, / which I am." Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist @joanaspolicewoman.bsky.social attempts to answer the question What is Freedom. ➡️ buff.ly/8AdLPPF

"We might still feel anger, still demand accountability. But we might also allow room for grief." The One Who Loved Is Not the One Who Betrayed: Roohola Ramezani explores Severance, identity, and the shifting selves of love. ➡️ buff.ly/6iVNoYf

"...her students have determined it would be most pedagogically appropriate...if for the duration of class, she placed her body within a small metal cage rather than roaming freely about the room." From "Critical Analysis," a new short story by Thomas Renjilian. ➡️ buff.ly/DWIidqX

"Maybe people just need to believe in something so badly it has taken over their bodies." From "Guru'd," a new comic by Daniel Giachetti. Read the full comic now at buff.ly/p8KlQzU

"I hope these poems inspire people to go out and stare at the stars because there are much bigger mysteries..." Jenny Boylan interviews @jbrookewrites.bsky.social about I Can Tell You The Version That Will Make You Take My Side (@driftwoodpress.bsky.social). ➡️ buff.ly/CeBy1wg

"The witch keeps singing. She doesn’t know any of the words, just the tune." From "Freckle," a new short story by @samzabell.bsky.social. Read the full story now at buff.ly/seXgnm2

"We must uplift the voices of the abolition feminists who have been teaching us for decades, if not centuries, arguably, that autonomy is an effect of care..." Making Revolution Beautiful: Abby Lacelle interviews @reproutopia.bsky.social about Femmephilia (@haymarketbooks.org). 🧜‍♀️ buff.ly/6XbURBc

"Freedom knows a thin or thick wallet ain’t nothing to a forest of hearts." Professor, author, and National Book Award winner @imaniperry.bsky.social answers the question, What is Freedom. ➡️ buff.ly/D7cRBCt

"...how cathartic is it when design and function are perfectly in sync, when the wine is as gorgeous as the label and when the book is as intriguing as its cover?" Design & arts journalist Zachary Petit gives his definitive listing of the 50 Best Book Covers of the Year (So Far). ➡️ buff.ly/hHA9XSf

"Ruth stayed up all night / listening to her father’s snoring, / listening to the great insectoid heart / of Florida beating all around them" From "Notes Toward the Great Floridian Novel I," one of two new poems by @andrewhemmert.bsky.social. ➡️ buff.ly/P1ctkPt

“...one of the most haunting and devastatingly edifying American road-trip stories ever written.” Born to Run: Darius Van Arman discusses "The Wind," a short story from @legroff.bsky.social's Brawler (@riverheadbooks.bsky.social). ➡️ buff.ly/qxGk7dw

"How do we make space and time for the endless to do list along with the mess of who we are?" Maintaining the Energy for Activism When You’re Struggling to Pay Rent: @rachellayown.bsky.social interviews @juliewbach.bsky.social about Work To Do (University of Iowa Press). ➡️ buff.ly/5v044fx

"Today. I remembered— / asymmetrically, yes—but / there you were. In a flash. / On every axis." From "Gödel’s Second Incompleteness or Ode on Dissociation II," one of three new poems by Letitia Jiju. ➡️ buff.ly/Nbalq90

"You start to find belonging everywhere, anywhere and with people that have nothing to do with you, but they’re suddenly more close to you because they’re lost like you." Hasanthika Sirisena interviews Sofi Stambo about People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much (Restless Books) ➡️ buff.ly/1OmLYXo

"I began to feel a little lighter. My murky existence, finally beginning to clear. The colors began to bleed into monochrome, my old world slowly dissolving." From "Homecoming," a new short story by Jason S. Park. ➡️ buff.ly/b5bCIPg

"Our life giving world thrives in a particular balance in the universe she journeys. It is a collaborative world where each element leans and relies on the other in complex ways." Singer, composer, and musician Toshi Reagon attempts to answer the question, What is Freedom. ➡️ buff.ly/APcw1CC

"He’s relieved to be reminded that thanks to his face, no matter how many women hate him, he can always replace them without having to do anything." From "Waiting for Alice," a new short story by Alex Erdekian. ➡️ buff.ly/G22ggSk

"What have I learned from the eels? Hide in the cracks. Wait for the others. Sink in the day. Rise in the nocturnal high tides. Wait for momentum. You will know when it’s time." From "Like White Ghosts Swimming," a new essay by @michelechristle.bsky.social. ➡️ buff.ly/RWaNVar

"Cut middle chunks out of thick hair. / Swished boar bristle in warm water. / Used Dippity-do to slick down our edges. / Formed a bun. Convinced us we were beautiful." From "After February 25, 1971," a new poem by @shawnrjones.bsky.social. ➡️ buff.ly/ucKi3Jw

“I felt like you recognized the woman I was trying to become and spoke to her as if she already existed.” From Week One of our new column "Girl on Girl" by Rebecca Woolf and Monica Danielle. ➡️ buff.ly/YcqiF94

“...we are all polymorphously perverse, never too old or too normal to need the touch of skin on skin.” "Normalcy? In This Economy?": @jendireiter.bsky.social reviews @mcrane12.bsky.social's Perverts (@thedialpress.bsky.social). ➡️ buff.ly/nFUKcbY