Death https://www.thesunmagazine.org/rss en-us The Feeding 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 Our Fraying Hearts 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 Sunbeams

God and the Doctor we alike adore / But only when in danger, not before; / The danger o’er, both are alike requited, / God is forgotten, and the Doctor slighted.

John Owen

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28984 Sun, 31 May 2026 15:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/606-sunbeams 606-49-wild-preview.jpg 606 - Wild - Sunbeams Struck 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 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 Home Invasions Still, I hadn’t counted on real, live rats. “I’m surprised you hadn’t heard them before,” said Rat Guy #1, as he came to be known. “From the looks of it they’ve been here a while.”

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28968 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/605-home-invasions 605-24-mcmanis-preview.jpg 605 - McMains - Myka Bars 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 Moon Jellies Some nights I dive into the sound / and let the waters have me. / I’ve felt the brush of a jelly arm— / they never really sting. It’s the glimpse / of that phantom-thing gliding beside me.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28953 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/604-moon-jellies A Conversation with My Father 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 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 I Got You “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 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 The Eulogy I Didn’t Give (V) 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 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 Love in All Directions 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 Celebrating 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 Pinkie Masters 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 About That Time I Pushed a Car Uphill I want to pause here and point out the obvious: According to the laws of physics, as soon as Darius put the car in neutral, it would begin to roll back. With me behind it.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28847 Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/598-about-that-time-i-pushed-a-car-uphill 598-24-Knight-preview.jpg 598-Knight-Peckham The Cat Who Woke Me Up The hierarchy that places humans above cats has broken down. I know, in a way I once didn’t, that cats and dogs and birds and bees and every living creature are conscious in a way that’s too hard for most of us to acknowledge. We’re all a bunch of narcissists who imagine that no life-form is quite as appealing as this one we call human. We’re unable to share the stage unless the animals are the supporting players.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28846 Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28846 598-14-Safransky-preview.jpg 598-Safransky-Safransky 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 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 Start with Overripe Bananas 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 The Seafood Stand 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 Brother, Electric cow2pie@aol.com He grabs my hand, and static electricity snaps between us, as though he is coursing with energy. He blows his hot breath on my frozen fingertips and tells me it’ll be OK.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28809 Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/brother-electric-crandell-596 596-14-estep-preview.jpg 596 - Estep - Crandell Parting Advice jamesdavismay@gmail.com I forgot our host had a cat, / so Tony and I both backed out the door / to grab the Allegra I always keep in my car, / a habit that says a lot about me, / he said, before we threw back our heads / and downed our pills like shots of whiskey

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28804 Mon, 30 Jun 2025 12:00:50 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/595-parting-advice Levi Strauss & Co. When he dies, my father turns into a small stone on the bed. A smooth oval I weigh in my palm, grip, and then, after a minute, draw circles over with my thumb.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28803 Mon, 30 Jun 2025 12:00:50 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/595-levi-strauss-and-co Glimpses This is how we say I love you in my family:
“I stopped the truck to move two toads off the driveway last night.”
“The walking iris has three blooms on it today.”
“On my way to work, a fox crossed the road with a mallard in its mouth.”


]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28762 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/593-glimpses 593-44-hebb-preview.jpg 593-hebb-goodman.jpg Goodbye Note jarodanderson@gmail.com Someone hung wind chimes in our cemetery / and a wren house / and mirrored mylar pinwheels.


]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28761 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/593-goodbye-note Missing One week before the planes flew into the towers, I secured my first full-time, salaried job. I had applied to work for the New York City Parks Department at the suggestion of my roommate, Ethan. He’d recently quit his Parks job—not because he hadn’t liked it, but because he was, by his own reckoning, in the midst of a quarter-life crisis, brought on by the unexpected death of his father a few years earlier. Ethan regarded me as lucky because my mother had at least told me about her cancer diagnosis before she’d died. From his father he’d inherited a three-bedroom apartment on Roosevelt Island, just one subway stop and a short walk from Central Park. Ethan sublet my room to me for $667, a remarkably low rent for a building with a doorman, pool, and gym.

]]> http://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/28760 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:00:00 -0400 https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/593-missing 593-38-maher-preview.jpg 593-maher-gersen.jpg