Friendship https://www.thesunmagazine.org/rss en-us City Chickens I never thought // I’d end up like this, domesticated as a pet lamb, / with a mate who worries our hundred-year-old house // needs new everything, shingles to foundation.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28990 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-city-chickens 606-22-estep-preview.jpg 606 - Estep - Luterman Practicing Taking piano lessons, learning to speak Russian, seeking enlightenment

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28975 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-practicing 605-30-anzorena-preview.jpg 605 - Anzorena - Practicing Rise I wasn’t about to tell Simon what happened. Buddy Sikes was one of the popular kids. Simon wouldn’t understand. Not because of his differences, but because he was still at the age where a clear line separated right from wrong.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28972 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-rise 605-18-obrien-preview 605 - Obrien - Falkowski My Bowstring Heart On the field I was all animal instinct and brute force—a bruiser, a bone breaker. Every tackle was a rebuke against a life where fathers die. When I played rugby, I wasn’t a broke, lost little girl. I wasn’t a struggling amateur writer. I had goals. I was a winner. I was MVP. I was someone.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28969 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-my-bowstring-heart 605-38-yeomans-preview.jpg 605 - Yeomans - Whitmore Four of Cups Maybe it was a mistake choosing such a solemn and contemplative place. Raising your voice above a whisper feels like an intrusion. The entrance branches into different rooms, leading you through multiple cultures and eras. You can move through time, follow the various paths available to you. You pick a direction and go.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28956 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/604-four-of-cups 604-24-ellis-preview.jpg 604 - Sayers Ellis - Gregory Pockets Shoplifting cigarettes, running the pool table, creating a “pocket prairie”

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28943 Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/603-pockets 603-32-kral-preview.jpg 603 - Kral - Pockets Selected Poems It all reminds me of that moment when you take off your sunglasses / after a long drive and realize it’s earlier / and lighter out than you had accounted for.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28942 Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/603-selected-poems Expats Rhonda tended to take in people—and cats, Jessica said. Spending about $150 of her monthly Social Security check on cat food, in addition to supporting her meth habit, had left her broke most of the time.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28939 Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/603-expats 603-40-carlsonwee-preview.jpg 603 - CarlsonWee - Garcia Los Vecinos And we’re included in the golden circle / of familia, through no virtue / of our own, yet here she is again at our door / with a plate of something delicious, or a big plastic bag / filled with nopales from the edible pads / of the giant cactus in their yard

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28938 Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/603-los-vecinos 603-46-kerzinski-preview.jpg 603 - Kerzinski - Luterman Nicknames Get to know Boxcar Betty, Stick Dick, Lali, and the Cajun Asian

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28923 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-nicknames 602-30-bookbinder-preview.jpg 602 - Bookbinder - Nicknames Butt-Dials “How are you?” Janice asks her brother, because what do you say to someone you didn’t choose to call except the same thing you say to everyone?

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28922 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-butt-dials 602-44-litchkofski-preview.jpg 602 - Litchkofski - Barrett The Dead of Dream Town As the majority population of Dream Town, the dead hold all elective offices. They determine the hours of the municipal pool. (Midnight swimming!) They program traffic lights to operate on peculiar patterns: Some never turn red. Others never turn green.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28919 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-the-dead-of-dream-town 602-20-demuth-preview.jpg 602 - Demuth - Brazaitis Sleeping Children What was happening in and to Gaza was not really about democracy at all—or any kind of universal, God-given values. It was simply about power.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28917 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-sleeping-children 602-14-peraino-preview.jpg 602 - Peraino - Peraino Love Language I read somewhere that most men receive flowers / for the first time at their funeral. So I filled a vase / in your apartment with puckered roses

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28914 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-love-language Stirring the Pot Leading a strike, starting trouble between sisters, feeding strangers

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28904 Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/601-stirring-the-pot 601-32-stone-preview.jpg 601 - Stone - Stirring the Pot Los Vecinos Once in a while we get a submission that’s a perfect fit for an issue, but the deadline to include it has already passed. That’s what happened with Alison Luterman’s poem “Los Vecinos,” which we accepted two weeks after the November issue went to the printer. The poem, about an immigrant neighbor who brings food and healing gifts to the author’s door, is a heartfelt companion to the November interview  between Daniel McDermon and John Washington about open borders and Laurie Smith’s photo essay  about migrants seeking entry to the US from Mexico. “Los Vecinos” translates the enormous issue of immigration into a personal story about generosity, community, and resilience. We’re publishing it on the website so you can read it in conversation with the interview and photo essay, which you’ll find both online and in print. 

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28873 Sat, 08 Nov 2025 07:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28873-los-vecinos Graffiti A tag on a dumpster, poetry in an outhouse, Viking runes in an underground tomb

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28850 Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/598-graffiti 598-32-Davidove-preview.jpg 598-Davidove-Graffiti Skill Set leathtonino@gmail.com . . .What it amounts to is that I feel / beauty all over, almost everywhere, the grass // growing from a mud puddle earlier today, the shadows shifting on distant mountains. . .

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28845 Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/598-skill-set Rude and Raw If you were around then, you probably blinked and missed Rude and Raw. Not many people noticed when they came on the scene, and even fewer paid attention when they left. They weren’t easily categorized. They weren’t hard rock or power pop, and veered off several exits short of punk. They probably had people telling them they should be more of this or less of that, but if so, they didn’t heed any of it. They seemed caught in this never-ending state of becoming, trying to figure things out as they went, as strange and undefinable to themselves as they were to others.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28843 Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/598-rude-and-raw 598-40-Hill-preview.jpg 598-Hill-Gordon Getting Dressed Sleeping in uniform, layering against the cold, wearing your spouse’s jeans

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28834 Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/readers-write-getting-dressed-friendship-travel-divorce-feminism-597 597-30-laden-preview.jpg 597 - Laden - Getting Dressed Moon Boots Our baby could not yet hold his head up. I lay on my parents’ living room floor next to my son, wondering how I was going to afford and overcome everything by myself, thinking I was too clumsy to take care of something as delicate as a child. And, in having these thoughts, I came undone.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28828 Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/moon-boots-na-mee-parenting-fear-grief-healing-597 597-44-scotland-preview.jpg 597 - Scotland - Mee Shimmer 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.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28789 Fri, 20 Jun 2025 07:00:21 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28789-shimmer Hometown Heroes “White people have it so good, they sign up to die in another country,” she said.

I thought that was pretty grim. I mean, there are such things as heroes. But it’s hard to imagine a real war with people who look like Jack and Matty. The only war I ever hear about is the one my mom was born into and grew up in the aftermath of, the Korean War. The one she uses every excuse to squeeze into a conversation. Every chance she gets, she tells me how rough it was then and how much better we have it now.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28783 Fri, 30 May 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/594-hometown-heroes 594-40-feinstein-preview.jpg 594-feinstein-son Collectors For years I’ve hauled my own records from house to house, city to city, relationship to relationship. They’ve outlasted two marriages. They’ve outlasted my father. They’ve outlasted pets and therapists. I’ve got a few rare 45s and some treasured signed Smiths albums, but also twelve-inch singles that are warped or skip. I’ve often thought about getting rid of all of them. Like nearly everyone else, I get most of my music from an app these days. But I’ve kept them the way I’ve kept a few good friends. All of us collectors. All of us records of everything that’s been pressed into us over time.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28780 Fri, 30 May 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/594-collectors 594-28-snee-preview.jpg 594-snee-margrave Look at Me Longer scotto.writing@gmail.com I turned a corner and saw a tall, handsome man staring right at me. He wore a green sweatshirt, black basketball shorts, and white Nikes. His face was expressive, wise, large-featured. Five-o’clock shadow. A shock of salt-and-pepper hair.

He was me. I was looking into a mirror.

I usually thought of myself as a slob: Dry, blotchy skin. Big belly. Thinning hair. But my reflection was actually pretty nice-looking. I only became a “slob” when I realized who I was looking at, when I understood the mess behind the face.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28776 Fri, 30 May 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/594-look-at-me-longer 594-20-osterhaus-preview.jpg 594-osterhaus-scotto The Healer He was riding the train to his teaching job when he heard about Skimmer’s bike accident in a post from another college friend. It was noon in Tokyo, where he was an English instructor; his conversation school opened in thirty minutes. Skimmer had been one of his closest friends in college. They’d lived on the same floor for two years and had shared an off-campus house with others for three years after that. Skimmer had started mountain biking their first semester in the house. Sometimes he would have accidents, and his blood would smear the bathtub while he dressed his wounds. But then he would clean, and when Skimmer cleaned, he scrubbed and wiped and penetrated each corner, calling upon a small orchestra of sprays and rags, brushes and solutions. It was like watching Leonard Bernstein scour a tub.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28757 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/593-the-healer 593-20-watanabe-preview.jpg 593-watanabe-keast.jpg Zombie Mom Denise figured the mom was dead; she had to be. The dad did the shopping now, and unless the mom was traveling for work for, like, a month or something, it was the only explanation.

Point of fact: Just last month the daughter and the mom had been talking while checking out at Denise’s register, and the daughter had asked for Lunchables, and the mom had said, “You will eat those over my dead body.”

Now the dad was buying five of them a week.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28743 Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/592-zombie-mom 592-40-rubin-preview.jpg 592-Rubin-Altebrando Ditch This is the part of the story where someone tells me, You couldn’t save him. He had to save himself. Every time I hear something like that, I want to scream.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28719 Fri, 28 Feb 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/591-ditch 591-24-trimble-preview.jpg 591-Trimble-Mcintyre The Only Alternative rcurriejr@gmail.com I’ve taken to telling young people that it takes ten years to get from age twenty to age twenty-five, five years to get from twenty-five to thirty, and three years, tops, to get from thirty to forty. So far, forty to fifty doesn’t seem like it’ll amount to much more than a long weekend. The people my age and older laugh knowingly, and the youngsters nod like Sure, sure, whatever you say, Gramps, and I am left, every time, wondering why the only thing we know to do with the stuff that terrifies us is to make jokes about it that aren’t really jokes at all.


]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28696 Fri, 31 Jan 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/590-the-only-alternative 590-24-hecht-preview.jpg 590-Hecht-Curie.jpg Luxuries A foreign sports car, a Hawaiian vacation, a glass of water on a hot day

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28645 Sat, 30 Nov 2024 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/588-luxuries 588-32-ivins-preview.jpg 588 - Ivins - Luxuries