https://www.thesunmagazine.org/rss en-us Crumb is always right, always the one telling the story, always the one who turns the drab, lonesome plains they call home into a world that’s dramatic and necessary.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28992 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-the-empty-room-inside-each-of-us 606-38-pedersen-preview.jpg 606 - Pedersen - Wilkins Some leeches have two jaws. Others have three. Some have teeth on their tongues. There are protective leeches who hover over their eggs, and leeches who carry their newborns in pouches like tiny kangaroos.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28988 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-the-feeding 606-26-rios-preview.jpg 606 - Rios - Glatt I have a sense of the drama people want to hear about, but most days our ER is filled with abdominal pain and vomiting—nothing like what you’re accustomed to seeing on TV.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28986 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-our-fraying-hearts 606-10-taher-preview.jpg 606 - Taher - Reinbold Pumped for an infant, spilled at the dinner table, used as a tear gas antidote

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28993 Sun, 31 May 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-milk 606-30-wild-preview.jpg 606 - Wild - Milk 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 My mother once put her fist / through drywall, nothing fractured // but that already-broken home, / a little more of her spirit and ours.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28973 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-boxers-fracture 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 tfd3@psu.edu I often wonder if there was something I missed, if the thunder and lightning said something I couldn’t understand.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28970 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-struck 605-44-perry-preview.jpg 605 - Perry - Davis On a playground, at a gymnastics meet, over an apartment window

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28959 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/604-bars 604-32-law-preview.jpg 604 - Thomas Law - Bars You could make things up that actually felt more like truth, somehow. You could build a world so precise that other people started to believe it, too. And if you didn’t believe the things my dad said, he’d find a way to make you.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28951 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28951-a-conversation-with-my-father 604-20-pedersen-preview.jpg 604 - Pedersen - Morton 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 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 “I’m your brother,” the man says, then swallows. He is tall and burly with deep-set blue eyes and thinning hair. He wipes his nose on his flannel sleeve and forks some coleslaw from a plastic container.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28921 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-i-got-you 602-24-hubard-preview.jpg 602 - Hubard - Skirvin I’m rebellious, defiant, so I’m sent to the barn, driven there by my newly single mom, or my newly single dad, or my grandparents, or someone else. Another parent told my mom I should try horseback riding. Ice-skating and tae kwon do and ceramics didn’t stick, but I can already tell I’m a horse girl.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28920 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-unruly 602-38-wolfe-preview.jpg 602 - Wolfe- Wood 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 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 My father took a puff from his Camel / and dispatched his message / in smoky cursive, Lasciare stare, / then said it again softly

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28915 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-lasciare-stare Are you writing his eulogy in advance? Are you afraid / to sleep at night? Afraid your bones are planning / their escape? And what do you mean by love? 

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28913 Sat, 31 Jan 2026 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/602-the-eulogy-i-didnt-give-v 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 Sometimes you had to conjure your own joy. Scratch that. Most of the time you had to conjure your own joy. So you had better suck it up and start chopping onions.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28902 Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/601-love-in-all-directions 601-44-fields-preview.jpg 601 - Fields - Mandelbaum I want to keep eating. I want life. More life. I want to turn from the simple facts of my existence to consider bigger mysteries, to fret about what might be, to remember what is no more. I want to imagine something other than this food in front of me, already a commodity on some assembly line, moving away from me.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28897 Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/601-the-body-eats 601-20-easley-preview.jpg 601 - Easley - Safransky A fiftieth anniversary in Paris, a COVID Christmas in April, a first birthday in America

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28889 Sun, 30 Nov 2025 11:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/600-celebrating 600-32-weimer-preview.jpg 600-Weimer-Celebrating A good scare can cure anything, she says. / We nod, and I thank her but insist / on holding my breath all night.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28886 Sun, 30 Nov 2025 11:00:00 -0500 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/600-pinkie-masters 600-46-jordt-preview.jpg 600-Jordt-Jackson That night she dreamed about her mother and the darkening spot on her ceiling and the water collecting in a fetid puddle in the middle of her living room carpet.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28869 Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/599-her-mothers-suitcase 599-46-jaffe-preview.jpg 599-Jaffe-Knowles When the kids came to school, we tortured them because they smelled and wore the same clothes every day, until they just shut down, not even looking at us after a while, never raising their hands, never saying a word.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28861 Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/599-the-lonesomest-sound-in-the-world 599-22-padian-preview.jpg 599-Padian-Hodgen 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 “We’re here to have fun,” she says. “Be the full expression of yourselves! You can go anywhere or stay right here—wherever the music moves you.”

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28848 Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/598-silent-disco 598-45-Wolf-preview.jpg 598-Wolf-Miller When my children began to tattoo their skin, / even modest images scared me. / I winced at each new embellishment, / wishing them innocence, not scars.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28833 Sun, 31 Aug 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/mad-to-live-dane-cervine-poem-597 You have to start with overripe bananas. Really overripe—not yellow with a couple of streaks but two thin-skinned ones that can hardly contain their own soft flesh. You should be able to smell banana from across your kitchen.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28817 Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/start-with-overripe-bananas-spurgeon-essay-596 596-44-gelsthorpe-preview.jpg 596 - Gelsthorpe - Spurgeon Once, my father drove from New Jersey to California by siphoning gas from strangers’ cars, then sent his van off the Pacific Coast Highway by laying a brick on the accelerator. His mother almost died when she heard.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28813 Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/seafood-stand-matt-barrett-fiction-family-identity-596 596-28-abeles-preview.jpg 596 - Abeles - Barrett