“His body, the closest place to home that I can go”
Founded in 1977 at Columbia University's School of the Arts
“His body, the closest place to home that I can go”
Columbia Journal is excited to announce the winners and finalists of our annual Spring Contest, which was judged by Melissa Febos in nonfiction, Analicia Sotelo in poetry, and Kali Fajardo-Anstine in fiction.
People always asked what we were doing there. The rehearsed line I said when people asked was, “We’re expatriates.” In my eight-year-old mind this word that came out like scrap metal meant, “white-people permanently not in white-people land.” That was…
“/ I give you / the air / of my lungs / may it be / the aperture / your memory needs”
I arrived in camp in the middle of 2017, resuming my National Service after some years abroad. I remember little of those first, scorched days, except that barely two months later one of us was killed in a training accident.…
Leo’s whole body is now cold and fractured, a calving iceberg. The old man’s incontinent and incoherent and not long for this world—this seems more like a hospice situation than a long-term housing prospect. Leo feels the old compulsion to…
“Loved like the moon tied to the sky, / sometimes full, / other times fallen-“
I try to remember that my husband is an angel of a man, a profferer of backrubs, bringer of flowers, an emergency therapist, whose only oafishness I can point to is a tendency to binge-watch prestige cable shows for hours…
“cutting memories of Papa, lined-up / history…”
The carrot seedlings grew two perfect, long leaves like blades of grass. I’d vibrate with excitement every time I peeked in on them, every time I brushed my fingertips softly against their green.
The Columbia Journal is now open for submissions to our annual Spring Contest in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Our badass and wonderful judges include Melissa Febos in nonfiction, Analicia Sotelo […]
The Columbia Journal is now open for submissions to our annual Spring Contest in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
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