Mississippi Delta
Dilruba AhmedThe only laundromat is on the white side
of town, so you wash your clothes
in the hotel sink. Below your window,
an industrial park flat as a runway,
scattered with rocks and shattered glass.
Even the prison, you hear,
folded a few years ago. The best jobs
are north of here: 50 miles, Tunica,
riverboat pay. By moonlight you drove
that open stretch of 61 where
a stranger warned, don't pull off the road.
Because the yoghurt and salad
you'll find on sale are a week
into rotting. Because the cashier
won't return your change
or smile. Because the boy who stops
by your window in the parking lot
is no more than nine. He asks
for change to buy a burger
and you worry that some teens
put him up to it. Alone beyond
the pale circumference of lights,
you whisper, I'm sorry, sweetheart. No.
Issue 12
Minority vs. Majority
Fall 2010
Features
Nonfiction
The End of the Rainbow
Christopher Jenner
Great Afro-Americans in History
Faith Adiele
Excerpts from the Daily Rumpus
Stephen Elliott
Poetry
Pee Bar(dom) and Bailie
Garin Cycholl William Allegrezza
Before I Was a Savage
Kristin Abraham
Life in Necropolis: Four Letters
Candy Shue
Mississippi Delta
Dilruba Ahmed
Market Is Stumbling but You Don't Have To
Danielle Blasko
The Choice Between Someone & Somebody
Kristin Abraham
The Other Side
Dilruba Ahmed
Acceptance
Rich Ives
Fiction
Girl in a Suitcase
Cassandra Passarelli
If It Hasn't Already
Jamey Genna
Lemon
Jennifer Spiegel
Chimera
Donna Laemmlen
Paved
Joseph Celizic
Dancing Pink Roses
Danny Bracco
Feeding the Animals
Amy Bitterman
Small Talk
Brian Martin
Art