2017-2018
There’s something tender in the poems, essays, and interviews in this new issue of Chaparral. Alina Nguyen won’t forget her mother’s calloused feet, while Crystal Salas transcribes her father’s syntax. Kelly Grace Thomas worries about her lover’s bearded face, and Sophia Apodaca re-imagines mothering. Christopher Higgs instructs us to love ourselves, and Abel Salas sings & sings. In their generosity and vision, these writers remind us of all the things that might go overlooked had we not taken the time to see. Thank goodness they are looking. Thank goodness they have transformed the ordinary into something to be cherished, something mysterious, something extraordinary.
Highland Park
Nửa Việt & Half American
When You’re in the Closet
Coming Out to My Mother
To the Lobster We Cooked at Kenyon
A Micro Essay
I Suggest My Lover Shave His Beard
[my father’s fear is a sentence of stuttered punctuation]
Atlantic City Mirage
The Balancing Act: An Interview with Crystal Salas
Because We Are Pirates of Love
Interview with Abel Salas
Interview with Christopher Higgs