An Interview with Dana Levin Natalie L. Tombasco Dana Levin was born in Los Angeles in 1965 and grew up in the Mojave Desert. She is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Now Do You Know Where You Are (Copper Canyon Press, 2022). Levin is a recipient of many fellowships and awards, including from the NEA and the Library of Congress, as well as the Rona Jaffe, Whiting, and Guggenheim Foundations. She serves as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Maryville Universi

A Walk in the Park To be born again, you need an incarnation specialist—a team from the Bureau of Needles to thread you through— Your next life turns on an axle of light—which Plato likens to a turning spindle—what was that? I mean I knew what a spindle was from fairytales—how it could draw blood from a testing finger, put a kingdom to sleep— but what did it actually do, how did a spindle look in real life? I didn’t know. As with so many things: there was fact and there was a

An Interview with Sun Yung Shin Brett Hanley 신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin was born in Seoul, Korea, and was raised in the Chicago area. She is a poet, writer, and cultural worker. She is the editor of What We Hunger For: Refugee and Immigrant Stories on Food and Family (2021) and A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota; the author of the poetry collections The Wet Hex (2022), Unbearable Splendor (finalist for the 2017 PEN USA Literary Award for Poetry, winner of the 2016 Minnesot

"About the Work" with Stella Wong In our "About the Work" series, Natalie Tombasco asks recent contributors for insight into their writing or for current sources of inspiration. Read Stella Wong's poems "[who are you]" and "[i am collecting]" in SER Vol. 40.2. “[i am collecting]” was influenced by Wong Kar-wai’s film In the Mood for Love. My favorite scenes were when characters were squeezing through the tight hallways of Hong Kong apartments as they were moving in and out—th

"About the Work" with Storey Clayton In our "About the Work" series, Natalie Tombasco asks recent contributors for insight into their writing or for current sources of inspiration. Read Storey Clayton's essay "Glass Houses" in SER Vol. 40.2. Glass is probably the most captivating material of human invention, once we realize that we didn’t invent fire. It is incredibly strong–until it isn’t, at which point it’s horribly fragile. Made of the finest grains, it breaks in a unique