Ayling Zulema Dominguez

“Es que tú te asfixias, hija,
my dad says with a soft smile that divulges a degree of pity I find silly.
I know that I love too damn much and too damn hard.”

Natalie Hernandez

“I’ve made multiple sancochos ​with the failed relationships my heart has harbored.”

Yasmilka Clase

“film reel captures birthday wishes
hands clap in unison as they hover over me
lips pucker up against candle
listo, sopla!”

Oelania Rubino

“I met The Witch when Papi took me to a colmado in Pueblo Nuevo. He would buy me chocolate and papitas as long as I didn’t tell Mami where we had gone.”

Gianfranco Fernandez

“Captain Collingwood’s men learned the term oppression; it stumbled out from their mouths and killed ten dead.”

Melissa Frias

“Mi negrita, dark everywhere except for her knees —peeled canela, dotted red —cries into her fruit.” 

JP Infante

“Moms mopped with Clorox, Fabuloso and sound. She cleaned the sidewalks off our tiles with Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You.’”

Annecy Báez

“Some women even boasted of becoming pregnant after eating one of her cakes, which became a boon for business.” 

L Scully

A day at the lake, and a fantasy almost made real.

Sage Ravenwood

“I used to think Quaking Aspen
clapped in merriment   Until they didn’t”

Heidi Miranda

“I met a boy and he took me stargazing
and we both cried because what else is there to do
when you feel a little reckless?”

Emily Uduwana

“Every man in my husband’s line has considered joining the cloth.”

Shannon Frost Greenstein

“I expected it to dart by, its preternatural sense for danger triggered by the sight of my toddler. I expected to continue our walk. I expected I would never again think about the orange feral cat who once crossed our path.”

These selections just represent pieces that each of us felt we had a particular connection to, or that had a special meaning for us.

To celebrate the publication of our hundredth feature, we’re looking back on some of the highlights.

Justin Rovillos Monson

I cannot divine a future without us
wondering how all these small fires did not burn
us into dust.

TaNia Donatto

Your last breath
will not be
the final time
you are heard.

Alan ten-Hoeve

“I open my mouth to say something like, that just isn’t possible right now, but stop myself. I let her have her fantasy. We need them sometimes just to get through.”

Darshita Jain

“‘16 migrant workers forced to walk from one part of the country to another...’

Three days walking, fell asleep on a nonfunctional train track.”

Rita Valverde

She came to New York hoping to see her first spring bloom. Maybe some other year, when the word “pandemic” is a memory.