James Hugo
James Hugo is the pseudonym of a writer who lives with his family in Oregon. He teaches, gardens, and enjoys observing creatures of all kinds, from hummingbirds to junior high boys.
Shimmer
We don’t have all the facts—the social worker closed her eyes, her head dipping almost imperceptibly—but she did tell us that before he was moved into the foster system, at night, after his biological mother had passed out, this one impossibly small boy would tuck his younger siblings into bed and, in case his father somehow found his way home, sit in a kitchen chair across from the front door, an old air rifle pumped and butted up against the slender wing of his shoulder.
July 2025Shimmer
Read an Essay from Our Upcoming July Issue
James Hugo’s short essay “Shimmer” is a portrait of two small creatures whose size belies their strength. One is an Anna’s hummingbird, a “little knuckle of feather and muscle,” waiting in the rain to be fed. The other is the author’s son’s best friend, a boy whose spirit has survived a painful home life.
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