Mother of Blood and Bone

Aremu Adams Adebisi

Mother of Blood and Bone

Mother of Blood and Bone https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/5382B55C-5A9B-4754-8A2C-E960CC0051A0.jpg 1440 1920 Aremu Adams Adebisi Aremu Adams Adebisi https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/336c90dc2f5248e22930f098bc749e26?s=96&d=mm&r=g 12/07/2018 12/07/2018

When father wanted to take a new wife, he sang mother her panegyrics, bought her the finest boubous from a local shop, traced her wrinkled face, her feverish hands, then…

Tara Isabel Zambrano

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Empty-Chair.jpg 1920 1920 Tara Isabel Zambrano Tara Isabel Zambrano https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/02d3ea70755cf1bed0961cd936884df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g 12/07/2018 12/08/2018

Mother touches their face and blinks like Morse code. No one understands her. I translate and do the readings for our tribe. Sometimes she picks up her stick and hits…

Sprout Conner

-cide

-cide https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_3837-001.jpg 1920 1440 Sprout Conner Sprout Conner https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/4407e574fa91aaad28161d38cda2c2eb?s=96&d=mm&r=g 12/07/2018 12/07/2018

I know my mother loves me. She tucks me in each night, puts the thick wool blankets over my face, her voice wasp-like as she reads The Little Match Girl.…

Chanel Brenner

At a Restaurant the Night My Son Died

At a Restaurant the Night My Son Died https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/8CAEF5D2-AAF8-41EB-ADA6-C571140A2644.jpeg 1920 1152 Chanel Brenner Chanel Brenner https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/729a3e07b310e3785f3b1be22c022f93?s=96&d=mm&r=g 09/19/2018 09/20/2018

I sat across from him, shooting his portrait with my phone. His charcoal sweatshirt faded into the dark booth. He played tic-tac-toe in the dim light. I should have known…

Peter Ngila

Chinese Bleeding on a Friday

Chinese Bleeding on a Friday https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/carolinebardwell-dressingonek5-1-e1549341064664.jpg 1920 1471 Peter Ngila Peter Ngila https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/53e2075439324290af57c38591c67fb4?s=96&d=mm&r=g 08/15/2018 08/18/2018

Your mami first appeared to you on a Friday morning, three hours after her death. Minutes before, your classmate Nzeli’s bad news, that your mother had given birth and bled…