This essay appears in the Literary Organizations Issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly. Whether walking through Bowie Town Center, Forestville and Iverson malls—or even Pentagon City—I still feel the void despite the retail shops that have popped up in spaces once occupied by Karibu Books. To understand this void is to know that the independent bookstore was […]
At first sight it left me flabbergasted. There I was, 14 years old, examining myself in the full length mirror in my parents’ bedroom — trying to make sense of my body. I thought only women — well, black women — could have these. So what was I doing with one? I shuddered watching the […]
Editor’s Note: This essay was first published in the Fall 2009 issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly (thanks to Dan Vera for the invitation and opportunity to try my hand at an essay). My first encounter with Charles Simic’s work wasn’t an introduction to the person. Prior to that encounter, his name seemed to be something […]
“this is not an interview? I didn’t come all the way around the beltway for this” — a disgruntled applicant It was almost noon, when I was crammed with more than 40 applicants into a conference room meant to hold only 24. I had arrived early for what was supposed to be a job interview, and […]
Alan W. King 