By Althea Downing-Sherer After Adrienne Rich I Chest burning Ascension from the riverbed The rain all at once Water makes curtains over the hips of scaffolding shielded by translucent sheets hinting at modesty The rain all at once the biblical comparison the voice saying that’s what I’ve been waiting for the sky to look like II They would test the tornado sirens mid-week until reality exceeded anticipation Tree limbs collapsed all at once Nature was more

Unhardening the heart . By Althea Downing-Sherer Illustration by Iris Pope This Valentine’s Day, as some of us face the perils of online dating or despair over unrequited crushes, Achsah Guibbory urges us to reframe love: not as conquest, but as devotion. Achsah Guibbory is a professor of 17th-century English literature at Barnard College, specializing in John Milton and John Donne. She has published multiple books, including Returning to John Donne; Christian Identity, Jews

What it means to be Christian during the resurgence of the religious right. By Althea Downing-Sherer Illustration by Em Bennet When people discover that my dad is a pastor, I feel compelled to assure them that I’m not that kind of Christian: “But don’t worry, he’s, like, a really woke pastor.” With a pride flag fluttering high above our church’s entrance to prevent local dissenters from stealing it and with church members prepping donations of school supplies, my church do