Ali Shapiro’s work has appeared in Gertrude, Popula, PrairieSchooner, The Offing, The Rumpus, and Electric Literature, among others. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan, and now teaches writing at the Stamps School of Art & Design. Read more at www.ali-shapiro.com.
From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!
NATALIE LINH BOLDERSTON Whenever my mother gives me one of her stories, I watch her cut into it, lay it out for me in a way I can consume, in a way she can bear. Her stories simmer in her muscles, ready to emerge at a flick of her wrist, a familiar flare of joy or pain.
RO SKELTON
For the displaced, dispossessed, or plain bored, this modest boutique, with its rows of canned foods, cellophane slips of hair weave, and single cigarettes, became a place for all of us to call home.
Subscribe
Don’t miss an issue! Subscribe to The Common.
Get Our Newsletter
Discover the extraordinary in The Common.
Receive stories, poems, essays, and interviews in your inbox every week.