The Adroit Journal

Brenda Hillman’s In the Spaces of Secret Enclosure drifts through childhood, language, and the clouded rooms where imagination first takes root. A meditation on unhappiness, invention, and the quiet places where words begin. Read the full poem through the link in our bio. ✨

Kaya Dierks, runner-up for the 2025 Adroit Prize in Prose, brings a sharp, unforgettable edge to Issue Fifty-Five with Dead Ringers—a story pulsing with teenage cruelty, desire, and a friendship that threatens to tip into something darker. Read through the link in our bio.

Eliza Gilbert—runner-up for the 2025 Adroit Prize in Poetry—returns in Issue Fifty-Five with work that slips between ward-light, myth, and the uncanny. Read the full suite via the link in our bio.

Aracelis Girmay in conversation with Rachel Richardson appears in Issue Fifty-Five. A meditation on scale, porousness, and the wide-open possibilities of the poetic line. Read the full interview via the link in our bio.

“Ekstasis” by Jenny Molberg appears in Issue Fifty-Five, winner of the 2025 Editor’s Prize in Poetry. A fierce, spiraling meditation on art, anger, survival, and the ecstatic edges of the self. Read the full feature via the link in our bio.

“Saltless” by Annie Zhu, selected by Aria Aber for the 2025 Adroit Prize in Prose, appears in Issue Fifty-Five. A haunting story of solitude, shoreline, and the strange beauty of what the sea leaves behind—where loss lingers like salt on skin. 🌊 Read the full piece via the link in our bio.

Calling all emerging writers! We’re now accepting applications for our 2026 Gregory Djanikian Scholars in Poetry and Anthony Veasna So Scholars in Fiction. Apply by 12/31 ✏️ theadroitjournal.org/scholars

“Contributor Forum: Rita Dove, Valencia Robin & Jesse Graves” appears in Issue Fifty-Five.
A masterful exchange between three poets on memory, music, and the courage it takes to tell our stories—where poetry becomes both witness and inheritance. ✍️✨ Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“In Plato’s Cave No. 1” by Rebecca Bernard appears in Issue Fifty-Five. A darkly vivid meditation on routine, intimacy, and the surreal edges of human work—where love and horror share the same dinner table. 🍝🖤 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Still Life with Roses, Wyeth’s Christina’s World, and a Poem by Larry Levis in My Lap” by Nikhe Braimah appears in Issue Fifty-Five. A haunting meditation on love, art, and the quiet violence of being witnessed.🌹✨ Read the poem via the link in our bio.

Issue Fifty-Five is here! Featuring our 2025 Adroit Prizes & Editor’s Prizes recipients alongside other luminous writers & artists. 🍂 Read the full issue at the 🔗 in our bio!

“Squeezing the Sad Bladder” by Nicole Callihan appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A raw, luminous reflection on the body, illness, and the intimate landscapes of memory—where grief, humor, and presence collide. 💔✨ Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Red Hill” by Andrew Chi Keong Yim appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A haunting meditation on birth, displacement, and environmental grief—where memory, water, and return intertwine. 🌊🏮 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

Join us next Tuesday (10/28) & Wednesday (10/29) for back-to-back virtual readings celebrating Issue Fifty-Five and our Fall prize recipients! RSVP for one or both events at the link in our bio. ✨

“To the Girl Dancing on the Corner Waiting for the Bus” by Ruth Williams appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A tender elegy that begins with a child’s quiet joy and unfolds into grief, resilience, and the ache of continuing. 💔🩰 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Legless” by Leath Tonino appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A darkly tender meditation on loss, body, and perspective—where even severed limbs seem to speak. 🦵📖 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Karatina Market” by Migwi Mwangi appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A sensory stroll through memory, market life, and ancestral presence—where the mundane ripens into the miraculous. 🥭🌾 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Karatina Market” by Migwi Mwangi appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A sensory stroll through memory, market life, and ancestral presence—where the mundane ripens into the miraculous. 🥭🌾 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Ribs” by Livvy Jean appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A visceral reimagining of creation and womanhood—where myth meets the modern body beneath museum lights. 🩸🕯️ Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Tongue Surgery” by Elizabeth Kim appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A sharp, meditative inquiry into language, anatomy, and assimilation—where the body becomes both subject and sentence. 🔪💬 Read the full poem via the link in our bio.

Adroit is growing! 🌱 Learn more & apply at the link in our bio.

“Koan: What Was Your Face Before You Were Born?” by Ye Chun appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A haunting meditation on lineage, shame, and the faces we inherit—where memory blurs into mirror and love becomes an act of recognition. 🌙🪞 Read the full poem via the link in our bio.

“Contributor Forum: Lena Moses-Schmitt & Sarah Lyn Rogers” appears in Issue Fifty-Four. An illuminating dialogue between two artists exploring the intersections of anger, image, and perception—where poetry meets the act of looking. 🎨📝 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“Art Therapy: Kingdom Animalia” by Misha Tentser appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A playful, tender dive into childhood memory, imagination, and the messy, beautiful intersections of life and art. 🐇🎨 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

Announcing the recipients of the 2025 Adroit Prizes for Poetry & Prose, selected by Aria Aber & Danez Smith!

“Lucky” by Douglas W. Milliken appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A sharp, unflinching glimpse into the ritual of parties, human folly, and the dizzying symmetry of chaos and desire. 🍸🎨 Read the excerpt via the link in our bio.

“When My Dad Says My Poetry Is Pornographic” by Dorsey Craft appears in Issue Fifty-Four. A poem of inheritance, faith, and the fraught intimacy of being seen—where language itself becomes both wound and witness. 🔥📖 Read the full piece through the link in our bio.

Last but not least, here are our editors’ art nominees for Best of the Net 2025! 🖼️

Here are our editors’ fiction & creative nonfiction nominees for Best of the Net 2025!

Poems by Shizuka Omori, translated by Yuki Tanaka, appear in Issue Fifty-Four.
These tanka shimmer with intimacy—small moments of contact, perception, and stillness that hold entire worlds. 🌸✨ Read the full selection via the link in our bio.