Witness Magazine

Beethoven’s Fifth in the Segregated Housing Unit by John Quintero

Witness Magazine — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 19:09:14 +0000

A young man sang in wild tones from isolation, in operatic moans that filled the cathedral ceilings of bedlam, vocalized feelings: “I’m bored. I’m bored. I’m really fucking bored.” Over. And over. And over. John Quintero was a former member of the workshop before being transferred to another facility. Highly... [Read More]

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Three Haiku by Laurence Taaffe

Witness Magazine — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 19:06:42 +0000

A grove with no practitioners is blown away in winter Early on solstice morning raccoons sleep in the trees but they are not themselves trees Summer’s end when lady bugs attack they bite hard Laurence Taaffe is an artist and poet who has been in the workshop for several years.... [Read More]

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China Virus by Jenny Hykes Jiang

Witness Magazine — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 21:51:28 +0000

I His mother’s voice crackles on NPR. Driving Luke to high school before it stopped we hear her mourn her son, Wen Liang, doctor who first saw what’s now named COVID-19 unattached to place/people we can harm. He had a son, five, a baby coming. I stop listening at five, only hear her putonghua— common... [Read More]

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letter to a drowned poet by Jieyan Wang

Witness Magazine — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 21:59:10 +0000

Qu Yuan (340-278 BCE): an ancient Chinese poet, drowned himself in the Miluo River after the capture of his country’s capital. in summer, your country falls & you’re left with nothing but koi fish & sunlit insomnia miluo: the quietest tributary, the off-cut you cast yourself into, ripples expanding into rhymes one day... [Read More]

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Goodbye to Mr. Wonderfull by Robert Brian Mulder

Witness Magazine — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 22:30:24 +0000

My ex-boyfriend’s name is Tripp Pham, but I recently learned that for the past year or so a group of people have been referring to him as Mr. Wonderfull. As in Full of Wonder. When an almost-friend at work showed me the website on her phone in the bathroom, I leaned forward, squinting,... [Read More]

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Mrs. Nixon’s Third Grade by Ismael “Izzy” Santillanes

Witness Magazine — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 20:06:23 +0000

The wooden ruler with the brass edge is treason upon his brown arm and not until a week after you’d used it on the back of my hand did I hear the air hiss rip through to weal the skin of my childhood friend as Mexican hieroglyphs pulverized against the back of my teeth cringed... [Read More]

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Queer Seoul by Mee Ok Icaro

Witness Magazine — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 22:39:51 +0000

After wading through the Seoulite crowds with their iPhone screens blazing tiny future K-pop stars into the night, Dee and I hit up a convenient store for snacks and beer before settling onto a bench in one of the many hangout areas. There was something so relaxed about my newfound friend nearly half my age,... [Read More]

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WHY I DON’T GO TO CHURCH by Monica Rico

Witness Magazine — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 22:45:01 +0000

The priest talks of gardens but doesn’t grow fruit. Oh, the mess song birds make. Someday they will go to seed, sprout, and shoot. A white lab mouse released into the woods doesn’t have the sense to run. Instinct... [Read More]

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Northern Lights by Christina Leo

Witness Magazine — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 22:57:00 +0000

At the tilted pole of a distant planet on the date of the summer solstice, the eyes of a young astronomer reflect the faint glow of a radio-sized machine which measures the countdown to sunrise. This far north, it will be the only daybreak of the year. Four minutes of morning. Wilted logbooks lie beside... [Read More]

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Unscented by Andi Brown

Witness Magazine — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 23:02:46 +0000

When I return home at night, I’m careful not to kiss my wife. It’s by mutual agreement. It was a routine we had before COVID, when all we had to worry about was MRSA, C-diff, and any human fluids that might get on my scrubs. In lieu of kisses, I strip my clothes off in... [Read More]

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