45.2 feature: Craft Essay by Sophie Paquette

Sophie Paquette is from Bloomington, Indiana. Her work has appeared in The Rupture, Quarterly West, Black Warrior Review, Split Lip, Heavy Feather Review, and others. She is a freshman at Columbia College in New York. Resisting Palatability: on “Rot” I love gross...

Sneak Peek: Missing File #7: The Ortolan Bunting by Alison Powell

Missing File #7: The Ortolan Bunting Alison Powell from BWR 45.1 In 1996 former French President Francois Mitterand invited thirty guests to his last supper. One was delighted to attend and offer condolences, admittedly a delicate balancing act. President...

The Best Lighting for My Body Was at the White Horse Inn and Bar, Oakland, California

“I am moved by the geography in this piece. Not just the geography of a landscape — also the geography of body, of gender, of family. The speaker enters with high stakes and manages to traverse the entire narrative with the stakes remaining high, emotional, and at times painful. “When I’m pressed, I go with boy: a category that can’t last forever” is the line that sat on my skin well after my reading of this piece was done. A firm and nuanced consideration of boyhood, manhood, mothers, and the bright and complicated intersection of all those things.”