@theoffingmag.bsky.social
Online lit mag. Authoring change. From the people who built these cities. theoffingmag.com
“Poets flagellated by their Muse. Poets turned out and ridden by their Muse. Poets, sucking off their Muse. Poets worshiping their Muse.”
From “Selections from The Garden of Poets,” a poem by Leónidas Lamborghini, translated from Spanish by Anayvelyse Allen-Mossman.
theoffingmag.com/translation/...
“There’s something I want to lift up and have reverence for. There’s also something I want to smash on that altar and make sense here.”
From this week’s Q&A with Patrycja Humienik, author of We Contain Landscapes, by Shlagha Borah.
theoffingmag.com/interviews/q...
“She felt a strange impulse to study these photos to be sure she remembered her brother’s face. Funny things happen to memory over time, everyone knew that.”
From the Archives: “Preludes,” a short story, by Meron Hadero, originally published on January 4th, 2016.
theoffingmag.com/fiction/arch...
“My once and future body, sandwiching himself between me
And my ex-lovers, failing to announce how any of us
Might like to be touched.”
From “My Once and Future Body,” a poem by Dylan Mcnulty-Holmes.
theoffingmag.com/poetry/my-on...
“always, there is so much i do not want. but still, the sweep of daylight.”
From “ruminations,” a Micro poem, by Ivi Hua
theoffingmag.com/micro/rumina...
“Another theory: I don’t know how to stop my body from constantly arriving before me.”
From “Is Everyone Else Here Also Thinking about Desire,” a Wit Tea humor piece by Susan Nguyen.
theoffingmag.com/wit-tea/is-e...
“That’s a theme in my work: food culture, human rights, access to land, and taste.”
From “Migration of People, Plants and Ideas,” an interview with artist Sarah K. Khan by Divya Gangwani.
theoffingmag.com/art/migratio...
This is the only story I've published during a very difficult year; to have something published is validating, but to have it singled out for awards consideration is truly special. I'm very grateful.
H/t to @rrrubenstein.bsky.social, especially, for being extraordinary through all this.
White text on a black, starry background that reads, The Pushcart Prize, Our Nominations NON-FICTION Claudia Owusu, “Self-Portrait Through Many Doors” Diego Alfaro Palma (trans. Claudia Nuñez de Ibieta), “Bags” FICTION Kristin Sanders, “The Instagram Mothers” Ross Showalter, “A Manual for ASL students” POETRY Rose Zinnia, “(Reassignment)” Tim Seibles, “So, After A While,”
Congratulations to all of our nominees for the Pushcart Prize! ⭐️
(@kristindsanders.bsky.social)
“I think any wrestling I had came from the fun in finding solutions to formal challenges. There’s also the pleasure of sharing what you love with others.”
From this week's Q&A with Duy Doan, Author of Zombie Vomit Mad Libs and Gauri Awasthi.
theoffingmag.com/interviews/q...
"Any story can be told over & over & over again. The newness is in the questions you’re asking, even if you don’t have an answer.” — @theoffingmag.bsky.social EIC Vonetta Young on what reading the slush pile taught her about good writing.
blogs.gothamwriters.com/2025/11/18/n...
#WritingCommunity
“When he reappeared on the other side, whole again, we let out a breath we hadn’t noticed holding, our bodies learning the rhythm of escape.“
From “Of Mice, Maps and Memory” an Insight essay by L.F. Khouri.
theoffingmag.com/insight/of-m...
“spare my daughters who feel love’s pulse in every place.”
From “walatta petros prays about desire,” a poem by Hiwot Adilow.
theoffingmag.com/poetry/walat...
“I am expected to answer in every season—yes I am, no, I don’t want what it makes me, yes maybe my fear has followed.”
From “Another Nameless Sea” and “Dear, Dirty Dublin,” two Micro poems, by Jo Bear.
theoffingmag.com/micro/anothe...
“This sea does not look like my sea. It’s summer and yet the water seems frozen. The faraway ocean—our ocean—is always warm.”
From “Passage,” a short story by Aurora Arias, translated from Spanish by Coryna Ogunseitan.
theoffingmag.com/translation/...
“The best a door can do is reveal a lifetime’s worth of stories— a lifetime’s worth of goings and comings. I am trying to do much, much more.“
From “Self-Portrait Through Many Doors,” an essay by Claudia Owusu.
theoffingmag.com/essay/self-p...
“The twenty-year-old version of herself hovers, ghostlike, over the reality of her skin.”
From “The Instagram Mothers,” new Wit Tea humor by Kristin Sanders.
theoffingmag.com/wit-tea/the-...
“I know you know, but it seems useful to think of it as it is to a bird: sometimes the sky turns into a window, sometimes behind the glass is glass.”
From “Galápagos: Environmental Impact Assessment,” a BOTE essay, by Michael Hurley.
theoffingmag.com/backoftheenv...
A close up of silver glitter on a silver background.
We're loving this beautiful poem on ACCOMPLISHMENT SUNDAY 💗 Contributor @inacarino.bsky.social has a poem in @theoffingmag.bsky.social we know you'll enjoy: buff.ly/bKHLWnl
09.11.2025 18:05 — 👍 15 🔁 6 💬 2 📌 0
“There’s an eyelash-shaped creek that cleaves the hills above our beetle-backed houses.“
From the Archives: “Xiaogui / 小鬼 & "Arcadia” Fiction by K-Ming Chang, originally published on July 06, 2020.
theoffingmag.com/fiction/from...
“The dislocation of my voice calls back to me as though
I am both Orpheus and Eurydic without passage or hum.”
From “Kay Sage Silences the Wind,” a new Poem by By Simone Muench & Jackie K. White.
theoffingmag.com/poetry/kay-s...
“surely they would know we are of the same shape”
From “surely there is someone,” a new Micro piece by Ina Cariño ( @inacarino.bsky.social ).
theoffingmag.com/micro/surely...
“As I drift to sleep, I wonder who the real me is and who’s the imposter.”
From the Archives: “House of Mirrors: Jordan Peele’s Us Reflects My Split Selves” an Insight essay by Shannon Luders-Manuel, originally published on October 29th, 2020.
theoffingmag.com/insight/arch...
“The migratory law penalized all crossing. Still, the young men couldn’t stay home.”
From the Archives: “The Chicken’s Eggs” a Translation by María Cristina Hall, originally published on September 22nd, 2022.
theoffingmag.com/translation/...
A black and white comic of a cockroach spray painting “REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAMMALS” on a brick wall.
“REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAMMALS”
From “12 Cartoons,” new Comics by Maik Banks.
theoffingmag.com/art/comics/c...
White text in a blue background that reads: NONFICTION Geetha Iyer (@geetha-iyer.bsky.social), "Exquisite Corpus" Kyla-Yến Huỳnh Giffin, "Ngoại and the Coral Reef"
White text on a blue background that reads: POETRY Kristin Gustafson, "Horse Poetica" Lauren Saxon, "if I could give you the moon" Mack Rogers (@rogerthatmack.bsky.social), "My mother's scrapbook found while I was looking for inspiration" Maya Salameh, "EXCERPTS FROM SEPTEMBER'S PSYCHOSOMATIC EFFECTS ON ARAB AM. GIRLS" Tim Seibles, "So, After A While," Shasparay, "Judgment Day"
Best of the Net 2025 Nonfiction and Poetry nominations (@geetha-iyer.bsky.social, @rogerthatmack.bsky.social)
22.10.2025 17:35 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
White text on a blue background that reads: ART Art by Anoushka Mirchandani & text by Divya Gangwani, "You Carry Everyone Who Came Before You: An Interview with Anoushka Mirchandani" Brooke Emily, "Home" Kyong Boon Oh, "Kyong Boon Oh and Walking the Path"
White text on a blue background that reads: FICTION Fia Zhang Swanson, "Foreigner" Kristen Sahaana Surya, "Grown Up Girls"
Best of the Net 2025 Art and fiction nominations
22.10.2025 17:35 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
White text on a blue night sky bright with stars that reads, The Offing Best of the Net 2025 Nominations
Congratulations to all of our nominees this year for Best of the Net!
Check them out below:
“Join us in celebrating fifty years of vampires helping humans by sucking their blood. Claim your spot now!”
From “Sundown Spa® Vampires Encourage You To Book A Rejuvenating Blood-Letting,” new Wit Tea by Tobi Pledger.
theoffingmag.com/wit-tea/sund...
“⟿ no poems ⟿ no reading ⟿ no beautiful bodies.”
From “false revelation,” a new Micro by T.R. San.
theoffingmag.com/micro/false-...
