My grandmother’s hands
In a fading photograph, they sit一双手Newly-wed still. They pause,hovering in a chant of numbers wavering into silence, and words slipout of reach 一粒, 两粒, 渐渐溜走like grains of rice through parted fingersuntil cupped hands left almost barrenwait only to receive a voice: it
In a Taxi
Dong-gu is trying to keep his face shielded by the overhead mirror, but the bright light keeps hitting his eyes. He squints, accentuating the wrinkles that begin in the corners and sprawl across his face like route lines on maps, and his view is momentarily dimmed. He opens them wide again to watch
Hiding in Plain Sight: Oxford’s accessible accommodation problem
Step through the grand doors of any college at the start of the academic year, and excited freshers dressed in branded shirts will be strewn across the quad. Chatting about “‘formals”’, “‘hall”’, and “‘matriculation,”’ they familiarise themselves with the Oxford jargon, slowl
Think of the Children
“The mechanisms of moral panic…lead to the emergence of an imaginary solution – in tougher laws, moral isolation, a symbolic court action…its victims left to endure the new proscriptions, social climate and legal penalties.” Jeffrey Weeks, 1985 Those who have transgender peo
how men spend lifetimes
How men spent lifetimes building hotels and never saw them finished. To lie by the pool on an oppressive summer’s day and never see it finished, to drift away. Nothing shines like your reflection. I was so angry at you I hit the water, broke the sun into so many sparkling days. I have been [&hel
Untangling the Web: Oil, Gas, and the Earth Sciences
The announcement of the University’s commitment to an Environmental Sustainability Strategy has been met with praise for its goal of “net zero carbon and to achieve biodiversity net gain, both by 2035.” It has also, however, been met with criticism, specifically for allowing continuing researc
The Isis Magazine Essay Competition
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO SUNDAY, 23 MAY The Isis is running an essay competition this term, judged by Balliol College, Oxford tutors Seamus Perry and Adam Smyth. We welcome students from universities and secondary schools around the world to participate. Winners of each category will receive a fr
Apartment 271
After Meret Oppenheim Steaming in gazelle, espresso in a fur-lined teacup clipped just less than an inch scowling on the dresser. She gullets fuzzed brown innards with a Levonelle & a little salt (a day later) three p
The Isis Poetry Competition HT21 Winner
1 On a summer evening, I stood outside on the pavement lifting my arms & pouring my own-most entire being out downwards, watching it flow in a slow, steady stream & become a shapeless little pool on the pavement — translucent, tacky, awkward, glittering; catching & holding the du