This May, contributors featured in The Common’s latest issue, Issue 29, gathered in Amman to read their work. The event was organized by HISHAM BUSTANI, guest editor of the issue’s Amman portfolio, to celebrate the portfolio’s publication by creating a space where these writers could share their pieces aloud. Having translated many of the featured pieces, ADDIE LEAK read excerpts from her work. HALEEMAH DERBASHI, author of the enigmatic essay-portrait of Amman, “Serious Attempts at Locating the City,” was interviewed about the event by the University of Jordan Radio. HUSAM MANASRAH, whose photos artfully capture the practices of various tradespeople in Amman, spoke to Aljazeera after the reading.
Ben Tamburri
June 2025 Poetry Feature: New Poems from Pedro Poitevin, Aiden Heung, and Ellie Black
This month we’re pleased to bring you poems by PEDRO POITEVIN translated from Spanish by PHILIP NIKOLAYEV and new work by 2025 Disquiet Prize finalists AIDEN HEUNG and ELLIE BLACK.
Table of Contents:
- Pedro Poitevin (trans. Philip Nikolayev), “Sonnet from the water before dawn” and “Self-Portrait as a Dog”
- Ellie Black, “The Confessional” and “Revelator”
- Aiden Heung, “The Theory of Evolution”
Celebrating Intimacy of Self: Mauricio Ruiz interviews Melissa Febos

When MAURICIO RUIZ told MELISSA FEBOS he was interested in addiction, she said he could borrow her books. “I have done a lot of research,” she said. “You’re welcome to use the material.” They stood in the lobby of the Old Capitol Building in Iowa City after the 2024 Krause Essay Prize ceremony. Ruiz plucked a praline from a tray and told her he missed Belgian chocolate. Febos pushed up her glasses and said, “Do you know anything about the Beguines?”
The Reading Life: Reconsidering My Weirdo Hero
By TED CONOVER

The Reading Life is a special 15th-anniversary essay series reflecting on close reading and re-reading, written by The Common’s Editorial Board.
In seventh grade English class, I read a poem in an anthology that felt custom-written for me. “It’s Raining in Love” captured almost perfectly an anxiety that I, at 13 years, felt practically every day: how to talk to a girl. The first lines are all about the speaker, worrying about the right things to say, but then it shifts to the girl’s perspective and finally this ending: