New world

Gerardo Lamadrid

Catching sight of you and your group (making eye contact with you, actually, and immediately noticing how you’d given up on contacts – the itchiness and the having to clean them getting the better of you – and finally tried out those tortoise-shell rims I suggested), I suddenly felt like I wasn’t where I thought I was.

Was I back in Caguas, I wondered. It felt like we were all back in Caguas, with its similar heat and language, the quick-shifting shade, the sporadic cobblestones. Yet there were still sándwiches called “tortas” being sold from colorful, rundown carts to people in suits talking on their phones during their lunch hours, and el Ángel de la Independencia gleaming in the midday sun of another daily traffic rush, as well as jolly, old-seeming kids in school uniforms lugging backpacks bigger than their torsos, and kid-seeming elders with wrinkles like commuters crammed in their tin trains, like corn collected on its cob, and also pink dresses – as rosa mexicano as their taxis – and flawless, dark braids like endless trains, or endless corncobs, chatting with each other across their tables littered with knickknacks and housewares.

And now you were there too, another old spirit, ancient as ever tho always younger than me, with a new shoulder-grazing bob capped with blonde, a blonde the hue of genetically-modified corn. And, as always, your family was with you, yelling past each other, looming over you, taking pictures, almost tipping towards the ground, while you held them up, already tired halfway thru the day but feigning a smile, the way glistening tourists pose in a noonish glare with the Leaning Tower in Pisa as if they hadn’t asked for this chore, as if they deserved thanks for anyone else being there, as if they’d all come especially for them, as if it was their duty to keep the show running and removing them would mean having to remove the tower itself, airlifting it into a safe container, and sending everyone back home emptyhanded, sans trendy Instagram post captioned with a pizza pun, with nothing, really – not even a refund.

And it was you who came over to say hi and ask me (looking me in the eyes, ignoring my parents) how I’d known you’d be there. Then you laughed and asked again. Was I stalking you? Did your mom tell me (cuz, even though you broke up with me three years ago, she still texts me)? If I wasn’t following you, then how come I looked like Bambi 33

facing headlights when I caught sight of you? How could I (someone who still had so much in common with you, despite denying it most times) possibly choose to holiday (also with my family) in Ciudad de México (one of the most visited cities in the world) just like you… without having planned it, without scheming and hoping, without timing this tour (which I didn’t sign us up for – my dad did) so precisely it would guarantee us running into each other? Why? Why else would I be there? In that sinking city built on a sunken city, remodeled more than once to look more European than it ever could – to look, from bright glass to gilded bronze, as if transposed from one, very old world to this very, very new one.

Contributor Notes

Grace Deaton ’20 - Mills College

Grace Deaton is a senior at Mills College pursuing degrees in both creative writing and economics. She spends most of her time either leading the Mills College tennis team as their captain or holed up in the library writing (whether it’s for class or for fun).

Gerardo Lamadrid ’20 - Vassar College

Gerardo J. Lamadrid is a Puerto Rican writer. This is their last semester at Vassar College. They will pursue an MFA in creative writing afterwards. Their work has been featured in Blacklist more than once. Their most recent poetry books are bocados (San Juan, Ediciones del Flamboyán, 2019) and Yéndome (San Juan, Publicaciones Gaviota, 2018).

Sophie Jonsson ’22 - Loyola Marymount University

Sophie Jonsson is an English major at Loyola Marymount University.

Dan Roussel ’21 - Merrimack College

Dan Roussel is an English and Sociology undergraduate at Merrimack College. When he isn’t working at his campus’ Writers House, he’s bouncing between radio shows, roommate conflicts, and the nearest Keurig. He also serves as the Managing Editor of The Merrimack Review. His work has previously been published in Blacklist Journal and the After A Line by Anne Bradstreet anthology, and featured at Mass Poetry Festival and the Greater Boston Undergraduate Poetry Festival.

Dom Fonce

Dom Fonce is a poet from Youngstown, Ohio. He is the author of Here, We Bury the Hearts (Finishing Line Press, 2019). He is the Editor-in-Chief of Volney Road Review. His poetry has been published in the Tishman Review, Obra/Artifact, Burning House Press, Black Rabbit Quarterly, Italian Americana, 3Elements Review, Junto Magazine, America’s Best Emerging Poets 2018: Midwest Region, and elsewhere.

Hannah Patient - Somerville College

Hannah Patient is an English finalist at Somerville College, Oxford, and the former Essex Young Poet of the Year. Her poetry has previously been included in publications such as The Purple Breakfast Review, The Oxford Review of Books, and Foxglove Journal. She likes pina coladas, but hates getting caught in the rain.

Emma Wehrman ’21 - Oberlin College

Emma Wehrman (she/her/hers) is a third-year English major and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies minor at Oberlin College. An avid reader and writer, she is particularly interested in feminist re-uptakes of fairy tales, poetry that plays with language, sound, and syntax, and narrative as a space for healing from trauma. Her poem, “Marken in the Muirland” was published in Blacklist Volume V in 2019.

Nick Berger ’21 - Ringling College

Nick Berger is a cartoonist and dog person. Based in Florida, they tend to use a combination of digital and traditional techniques to create their art. Their sleepiness is slowly but surely becoming stronger, but that won’t stop them from drawing and watching Star Wars lore videos. 35

Nico Léger ’21 - Brandeis University

Nico Léger is a Canadian-American poet who identifies as non-binary. He is studying Creative Writing, English, and East Asian Studies at Brandeis University in Boston. In his work, he seeks to understand gender identity and sexuality, as well as mental health and the complex layers of racial, national, and cultural identity in the United States. He can be found at @nico_leger_ on Instagram.

Keegan Barone

Keegan Barone is a multimedia artist creating work with a critical commentary on contemporary American issues through her own lens of athletics. Her work speaks specifically to her own experience as a woman athlete. By representing her own vulnerabilities, she creates further discussions of what has influenced her experience in relation to certain aspects of their identity. As sport is ingrained into our society, she explores how this is reflected in social and cultural norms. Through this, she is able to create artwork that speaks to issues in American society concerning gender and the body.

Minseok Jang ’23 - Ringling College

Minseok Jang is a freshman at Ringling College and currently taking up a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts where he was admitted with the Dean’s scholarship. From most of the schools he applied this year, he was admitted with the maximum academic scholarship and additional funding offered for his excellent portfolio. As a passionate young artist, he finds great joy to continuously challenge himself in various fields from installation art, performance art even to fashion design, which allows him to try unusual experiments in art making, resulting in distinctive character of his pieces. Minseok Jang wants to deeply explore unlimited possibility in art by combining various forms from different fields.

Ryan Jae ’20 - Stanford University

Ryan Jae is a Art Practice + Computer Science major in Stanford’s class of 2020, whose primary practice is photography but pursues a highly interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of printing, digital and video art, software, and hardware. Please engage with his most recent work on instagram @ryanajae, and on the website www.ryanajae.com.

Serena Zhang ’21 - Stanford University

Serena Zhang (she/her) is a junior at Stanford University majoring in International Relations and minoring in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in The Leland Quarterly, The Heritage Review, and elsewhere. She is endlessly inspired by the women in her life and dreams of directing the next Oscar-winning film starring an allAsian American cast. She owes her love of rain and airports to the Pacific Northwest in which she grew up. Writing is her first real love. You can find more of her work at xiaosez.weebly.com.