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Featured Artwork: Ya-omri by Zaynab Bobi

Issue 6

Reborn

What would you do with a second chance at life?

Invisible City Issue 6 contributors dive into the unknown abyss that we call living. They share stories of triumph, of fear, of humanity.

There is so much world to explore, yet such limited time to do it. Stories help fill in the void. They give life a backbone, a pulse. They help us find meaning. They allow us to thrive, familiarize and connect in our increasingly global society.

Our contributors explore what it means to be a human in today’s world. Invisible City celebrates this humanity in all its forms, as we uncover stories and memories that give us a new, revitalized sense of life.

Poetry / Sandra Marchetti

Wisdom

I lean behind

the wet leaves

to pluck what

I think I see—

Read the poem →
Nonfiction / Lorraine Caputo

Uruguay Sojourns

In the goldening late afternoon sun, screeching green loros fly from tree to eucalyptus tree. A boy rides a white horse bareback down a dirt street.

Read the essay →
Poetry / Hassan A. Usman

when bad nights unfurl to form a crosswalk into a day alive with butterflies

all this time we were seated for our own

share of the light now it doesn’t matter

how much furrows are set in our butts

Read the poem →
Fiction / Meredith Craig

The Twilight Ride of Sundeep Johar

“Do you want to die?” Sundeep’s brother asks.

I nod.

Read the story →
Poetry / Lennie Hay

Late Afflictions

To be old in the time of disease is to be angry

for the crushed wren on the sidewalk; for the resurrection

Read the poem →
Nonfiction / Christi R. Suzanne

Rusty Pipes

Our synapses start firing as we form and recollect anecdotes or events that have impacted us throughout our lives. We lose and regrow important brain connections that may lead to a forgotten smile or worse.

Read the essay →
Poetry / Cameron Morse

Exoskeleton

As frail as I am

with my bandaged

head my

stumbling abnormality

Read the poem →
Fiction / Stephanie King

Non-Paternity Event

He was on emergency leave when it happened, home in time for his mother to enter hospice, greeted at the airport by volunteers waving little American flags. I was “home for Christmas,” my meager belongings stored in a CubeSmart storage unit while I figured out my next move.

Read the story →
Poetry / Triston Dabney

We Don’t Often Talk About Fathers

I always questioned who my father was

before the hair decided

to settle between his chest,

Read the poem →
Fiction / Karol Lagodzki

What One Needs in the Wilderness

No heavy machinery could tame the sandy unpaved road outside Babcia’s Augustów house. A grunting tractor pulling a drum came through every couple of months, but soon all who walked the road could feel its sting in their calves again.

Read the story →
Poetry / Nnadi Samuel

Ars Poetica

slimy & joy-wet. you're night's work of art, hatched from nothing

into the belly of a jaw—softening the hard ground of language.

Read the poem →
Fiction / Abigail Oswald

The Boy in the TV

The boy in the TV has golden streaks like honey in his hair and two blue diamonds for eyes, face open like a window streaming sunlight. Watch as his brows furrow over inscrutable hazel orbs, jet black hair slicked smooth and reflecting pale moonlight.

Read the story →
Poetry / Shitta Faruq Adémólá

A Physiotherapy with A Bird

First assignment: Underline the words that describe you.

My father has a hunchback for beauty.

Gunshot in Borno— girls do not know how to smile.

Read the poem →
Nonfiction / Linda Nemec Foster

A Daughter Dreams of Her Mother’s Death

My dream begins like a fairy tale.

Wild wolves are in the house—not tame

Read the essay →
Fiction / Phebe Jewell

Gynecology

“Got a boyfriend?” The red-faced doctor with big hands asks, leaning over Cindy’s pubes.

“Kind of.” Cindy blushes.

Read the story →
Poetry / Katey Linskey

“I think sometimes I am not woman, but…”

incubator, talking point, someone’s mother,

sister, daughter, girlfriend—at least I could be.

Sometimes the closet, and by that, I mean the hanger.

Read the poem →
Nonfiction / Stephen Haines

The Green Light

To mix a cocktail is to tell a story. Each bottle you pour from has a history, some mundane and some grandiose.

Read the essay →

Poetry / Marc Alan Di Martino

Barbershop

As the barber snipped and combed,

lathered and groomed, I lapsed

Read the poem →

Featured visual artwork in order of appearance:  Fruit by G.D. Brown, BOVINE EXPLORER by Jeff Mann, Hope by Deborah Ajilore, Never Alone by Rahma O. Jimoh, White Bark River Gum by Jane Turner Goldsmith, Behind The Clouds by Clarissa Cervantes, Un-naming grief by Zaynab Bobi, Soft grip by Deborah Ajilore, Hole in the Wall Shanghai (上海) by L. Acadia, Lighthouse by G.D. Brown, yellow swallowtail on buttonbush by Jim Ross, Oxford High Street by L. Acadia, Starkness by D L Beauchamp, Trinity by Joshua Effiong, coneflowers by Jim Ross, c'est pas un rêve I (model: Rebekah Hartensveld) by Sujash Purna, Layered Chiayi (嘉義) by L. Acadia, and Ya-omri by Zaynab Bobi.



Issue 6

Ben Briggs | Editor-in-Chief

Jess Reincke | Production Editor

 

Olivia Berriz | Production Assistant

 

KC Crawford | Nonfiction Editor

Olivia Berriz | Poetry Editor

Eden Julia Sugay | Poetry Editor

Anna Deh | Fiction Editor

Gretchen Lehtonen Hopkins | Fiction Editor

 

Erik Johnson | Assistant Nonfiction Editor

Katelynn Williams | Assistant Nonfiction Editor

Bryce Sears | Assistant Fiction Editor

Jake Yarnold | Assistant Fiction Editor

Sasha Rene’ | Assistant Poetry Editor

 

Readers: Connie Chen, Robert Perea, Lilia Farrell, T.S. Leonard, Lu Huang, Alexandria Hutton, Sonya Pendrey, Kristin Jensen, Erin Rex, Virginia Rider, Rosa King, Robin Foster, Caraghan Selfridge, and Lucy Weltner.

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Literary Journal of the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco

Note: The contents of Invisibe City do not necessarily reflect the views of USF or of the MFA program.

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