Performances By Judi Rhee Alloway LISTEN TO THE AUTHOR READING: Welcome back to Luna Park for our grand finale: our adoptee pejorative performance! You were a daredevil on our roller coaster, where the Oliver- plot-Twist turned strangers into your family who gave you a slave name, along with a new identity, culture, language, food, etc.—and is now crushing your soul. After your orphan-Annie famine, the sun did not come out, and you
take this heartand make it yours By Sara Bennett LISTEN TO THE AUTHOR READING: Three times I call your name in the mirror: “Mother, mother, mother.” Nothing happens. I close my eyes and pray to a god I no longer believe in, to
Playful By Emily Gordon I’ve always been a serious person. Too literal, too gullible, not quite cool enough to catch social cues or innuendos. Earnest. Words like casual, playful, and flirtatious would apply to me only if few humans were left on earth for comparison. I am a fan of rules. Structure. Babies born into trauma learn early that the world isn’t safe. Our birthrights are deep sadness
Only One Save File By June Qiong LISTEN TO THE AUTHOR READING: As I traveled alone through my birth city—the one I have no memory of, where I was born, left, found, cared for by aunties I wish I knew to thank, and then adopted by my now-parents and taken to the United States—my mind returned to my childhood hours spent playing Pokémon. There’s this joke that only children are always third-wheeling their parents. Maybe
A Chronic (Heart) Condition By Meredith Seung Mee Buse 1. “I’m sorry you’re still sad about something that happened a long time ago,” he says. I almost crumple to the ground. How can someone I love so much understand me so little? True, I’ve been less than fully functional for the past few months—or years, depending on when you start counting. And I understand why this frustrates those who depend on me, especially when the reasons for my downturns seem opaque.
