Nonfiction Archives - Page 2 of 21

North

Soon after re-entering their natal streams, the salmon’s kidneys fail. Having come to maturity in the ocean, they can no longer ingest freshwater.

There was an undeniable charm to the unlikely nature of our bond, a lighthearted Frenchman and an aging American virgin

I want my mom. I do. I may be thirty-five years old—too old for wanting mothers—but I’m also thirty-five weeks pregnant. And I’m scared, I guess.

She looks away in horror and I re-sheet myself. I don’t blame her. I’m disgusted too.

Despite our shared grief, the conversation was stunted at first—we were still adults—known enemies to teenagers all over.

When she was dying, it was easy to see her spoons dripping off her remote controlled hospital bed.

The law of falling bodies states that if I had somehow touched Tom’s body as it fell through the air, the outcome would not have changed.

When I grip the hot neck between fingers and thumb as Doña Margo shows me, the chicken wakes, blinking and fluttering its wings.

A discussion with the translator of Stories of the Sahara (Bloomsbury, 2020) on navigating between languages.

Bats are the only mammals who have adapted to true and sustained flight. While their flying looks frenzied, it is, in fact, radically precise.

I sob for a moment into the nubby polyester and consider sucking my thumb. I try it but get no satisfaction.