Sonnet for My Grandparents
You, doused in sugars from my papa’s cane. You, a sickening cinnamon burning. And this plum amidst your wet, fat folds: pain: It knows of none. Nonna’s dough is churning. Pubescent grand-kids shunned sugar-gnocchi All the while adults gorged, and nonna fed. Tongue-buds grew. Sweet-lover,
Weekly Round Up: Akwaeke Emezi, Fleabag, and HIV Treatment
Non-binary Author Nominated for Women’s Prize for Fiction Non-binary author Akwaeke Emezi has been nominated for the £30,000 Women’s Prize for Fiction for their first novel, Freshwater. Controversially, it is the first time in the twenty-seven year history of the award that a person who doe
Poetry
<html> <body> He tells me online life is orgiastic, all mental spasms, congealing cancerous cysts licked by dread, self-flagellating until torn + tarred + turned on: – u ok? – Cossacks everywhere, hoofbeats, drumbeats, that ultraviolent noise, sensory deprivation up-regulated
Weekly Round Up: Solange, Jordyn’s Red Table and the Indo-Pak Student Solidarity Demo
Michael Jackson Abuse Scandal With the upcoming release of Dan Reed’s documentary Leaving Neverland on Channel 4 (it has already been shown on HBO in The US) the conversation about power and abuse within the music industry and celebrity spheres continues. Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 40,
language/politics/identities in Eastern Europe’s breakaway territories
After a lengthy interrogation by a Russian soldier, which included questions ranging from the etymology of my middle name to my dad’s job (but not, naturally, my mum’s), I was allowed to cross the border from Georgia into the sunny Republic of Abkhazia. The strange thing about this crossing, how
ART-ificial Intelligence: The Curious Case of Edmond De Belamy
In late October 2018, Christie’s, a fine art auction house, sold a portrait, a print on canvas. It shows an austere gentleman dressed in black – the eponymous Edmond de Belamy. It is one of a series of portraits of the Belamy family and by far the best known, though they all share the same
O’ahu: regular priced milk and the view over Pearl Harbour
When we arrived in O’ahu we headed for Waikīkī first. From the airport we walked to the Alamo car rental, where my father talked to the desk as my mother sat in the plastic chairs between me and my brother, sobbing as quietly as she could. “We’re safe,” she kept muttering to herself. I
A more ethical approach to consumerism?
Blockchain technology could have a ground-breaking influence on consumerism, but what is it, why is it useful and are there reasons to be sceptical of its impact? In April of 2013 a building collapsed in Bangladesh. Over 1,100 people died. The managers of the garment factories on six of its e