the ampersand

Marginalia By Neil Wang Clara knew it was wrong to write in a library book, which was why, the first time, she pressed so lightly with the pencil that the sentence looked less underlined than wounded. The book was One Hundred Years of Solitude. Clara had carried one sentence from it since college: the secret…

Flaws By Greg Lehman Definitely grateful, huge fan here of this bloody vessel, blood sugar blender, spinning in a calcium cage of factory defects, inelastic budgets burning on dimension, duration, charged by dearths and potentials of voltage that get sad, happy, welcome the orgasm and outrageous effort alike, on occasion, considers the paradox, then, ceases,…

The Castle and the Axel By Kimberly Gibson-Tran I want it—the Fortress of Solitude—woven shards that quicken into walls, fold into a closing. I clocked its rise in the movie—a rush breaking into minutes. And mine? Eternity. Every drawn meter a crystal ache, a binding blue. What more have I wasted at the threshold, worrying…