Barren Magazine

Aremu Adams Adebisi

Mother of Blood and Bone

Mother of Blood and Bone https://i0.wp.com/barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/5382B55C-5A9B-4754-8A2C-E960CC0051A0.jpg?fit=1440%2C1920&ssl=1 1440 1920 Aremu Adams Adebisi Aremu Adams Adebisi https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2F581187-40B5-4399-A6F9-310ECA68F145.jpeg 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://i0.wp.com/barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Empty-Chair.jpg?fit=1920%2C1920&ssl=1 1920 1920 Tara Isabel Zambrano Tara Isabel Zambrano https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BB4934B5-B943-4908-9F1F-A7E8DF98C1D0.jpeg 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://i0.wp.com/barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_3837-001.jpg?fit=1920%2C1440&ssl=1 1920 1440 Sprout Conner Sprout Conner https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/E0D828E2-C35D-47A9-9713-C99BC333AE0E.jpeg 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://i0.wp.com/barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/8CAEF5D2-AAF8-41EB-ADA6-C571140A2644.jpeg?fit=1920%2C1152&ssl=1 1920 1152 Chanel Brenner Chanel Brenner https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/chanelbrenner-e1538974496697.jpg 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://i1.wp.com/barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/carolinebardwell-dressingonek5-1-e1549341064664.jpg?fit=1920%2C1471&ssl=1 1920 1471 Peter Ngila Peter Ngila https://barrenmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/peternglia-e1539006577870.png 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…