Celebrate 30 years of the OA.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
This issue features an epic poem by the National Book Award–winning poet Nikky Finney, entitled “The Battle of and for the Black Face Boy.” The poem, which Finney describes as “a radical libretto,” was written to commemorate this year’s sesquicentennial of the Civil War’s end.
The issue also includes work by Jonathan Blitzer (with photography by Reed Young); fiction by Catherine Lacey and Jamie Quatro; an appreciation of Frank Stanford by Ansel Elkins; John O’Connor’s foray into the Everglades in search of Bloody E. J. Watson; and much more.
Hank’s Dream, by John Lingan
Padgett Powell prepares the cork
My Name Is Alex, by Michelle García
First, We Were Talking About Skinny Dipping, a story by Beth Ann Fennelly
Drew Bratcher survives the morning waves
Clidastes in Limbo, by Asher Elbein
Christina Cooke and the pilgrims of the lost cemeteries
Stick, a story by William Caverlee
Local Fare: How to Read a Menu, by John T. Edge
THE BATTLE OF AND FOR THE BLACK FACE BOY
a poem by Nikky Finney
GROTESK
by Evan James
CROSSING OVER
by Jonathan Blitzer
KYRIE, WITH ENDNOTES
a story by Jamie Quatro
THE LEGEND OF CHOKOLOSKEE
by John O’Connor
UR HECK BOX
a story by Catherine Lacey
LAST PANTHER OF THE OZARKS
Revisiting Frank Stanford
by Ansel Elkins
Cooking With Chris:
SLIM JIMS AND MONSTER
by Chris Offutt
Art by RaMell Ross, Arthur Tress, Doug DuBois, Joseph Noderer, Dawn Roe, Josh Verduzco, Neil Craver, John Huggins, Klaus Pichler, Anni Leppälä, Cobi Moules, Henry Hargreaves, Amirah Kassem, Keisha Scarville, Jack Spencer, J. N. Wilson, Mary Ellen Bartley, Reed Young, Eric Ogden, Eliot Porter, Jungjin Lee, Stephen Gill, Ginny Stanford, Eric Yahnker
Cover: “Here” (2013), by RaMell Ross