Sunset (1930), Paul Klee Family Portrait: Featuring a Talala, Oklahoma Sunset Bleeding across a late-July sky like a delicious headwound. Mom is still alive, riding the turn of the century’s collarbone. Dad skips dinner, to work, but we know the glow from his office’s window is a World of Warcraft raid. My brother is in the Tulsa County lockup for the night, after stealing DVDs in the garden section of Walmart. There’s a giant pool that wobbles like a mouth spilling secre

About the Work: Sarah Hare In our “About the Work” series, Olga Mexina asks recent contributors for insight into their writing or for current sources of inspiration. Read Sarah Hare 's work in SER Vol. 43.1. “Results of My Depression Screening Three Weeks After My Dad Died” Soon after my Dad died, I started writing down fragments about him that I wanted to process or remember. These snippets had no narrative throughline. The next spring, I read Miller and Paola’s Tell It

About the Work: Danica Li In our “About the Work” series, Olga Mexina asks recent contributors for insight into their writing or for current sources of inspiration. Read Danica Li 's work in SER Vol. 43.1. “Queen of Hearts, Queen of Swords” This story was based on my experience from many years ago working as a young lawyer representing a group of female dancers in a wage theft class action against a strip club. Among the dozens of cases I’ve handled before and since over

About the Work: Benjamin Grossberg In our “About the Work” series, Olga Mexina asks recent contributors for insight into their writing or for current sources of inspiration. Read Benjamin Grossberg 's work in SER Vol. 43.1. “My Octopus Lover Makes No Bones” My initial inspiration for this series was the 2020 documentary, My Octopus Teacher: its vivid, saturated glimpses. But when I started writing a year or so after watching it, the real quickly got left behind. My octop