New Orleans Review

Since 1968

New Issue

Issue 53 : Summer 2025

53, New Issue by New Orleans Review

Contributors: Prisca Munkeni Monnier, Tasnim Al wa’l, Briana Bhola, Marigny Beter, Kasey Buckley, Peyton Turnage, Chris Wu, Madeleine Hollis, Chris Seaborne, Alexa Doran, Kristi Maxwell, Hanaa Ibrahim, Liz Femi, Isra Hassan, Chii Ọganihu, Kathleen Winters, Caroline Laganas, Konstantinos Patrinos, Konstantinos Patrinos, Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, Lauren Kalstad, Linda Michel-Cassidy, Lizzy Ke Polishan, Gwen Aube, Alessandra Occhiolini, Stevie Chedid, Jean McDonough, Scott Rosario Mottola

Cetacean Stranding

53, New Fiction by Madeleine Hollis

          On the day that the whales came to rot, the seaside town of Prince-au-Mer, which existed in a perpetually indecisive state, found itself teetering on the precipice of complete disorder. Dr. Rutherford and his handsome assistant, who was not a …

throat fish

53, New Fiction by Peyton Turnage

          When the bell rings for outdoor rec time, I sprint to the dirt patch beside the basketball court where I find Twelve at work. She squats real low and stacks miniature bricks to make miniature walls, a big magnifying glass …

Inheritance

53, New Fiction by Kasey Buckley

My daddy’s god given name was Jean-Michel, but everybody called him Chips. Even me. I’d begged to go on the boat ever since I could throw a stick. Mama didn’t allow water play of any kind on account of her …

Cum Rag & relapse

53, New Poetry by Alexa Doran

Cum Rag

[now that there is a cum rag I curl
around for comfort] I don’t need
the silver blubber of another purse.

Give me Gatsby or enough THC
to forget Tennessee. Yes, the only

proof I exist is plastered …

Thread

53, New Poetry by Liz Femi

I’m thinking of a gourd.
     Maybe there’s a thread 
inside. Like a thin 

long thread.
It hangs from the neck,
searches to stitch, latch
with the stupefied gaze of a calf still wet
from birth. 

Maybe I’m convinced
it’s from …

we were there at the slaughter

53, New Poetry by Chii Ọganihu

we were there at the slaughter
at the slaughter of Fala 

not all of us are guilty;
someone—not I—held the knife
and someone—not I—gave the order
but there are no innocents among us

some of us were inside the room…

PERSONAS

53, New Poetry by Isra Hassan

circa Summer 2020

pixelated and clear / 5.5 inch screens spawn portals that yawn / faces oust doors
counterfeits of Edvard’s The Scream / the world mesmerized / misty –
eyes / our  ery haze met / a pre-rapture rhapsody …