COVER FEATURE

Illness & Literature

“Death is its own invention with its own effect and its own observances. You regard the failing body. The body is the vessel.”– “Closer to Where You Will Find Him,” by Michael Mattes

“I say to myself, ‘If I can write, I can get better.’ And suddenly, that is what I want. I want to get better. I will not accept myself in this condition, sick and disabled.” – “The First Day,” by Goli Taraghi

  • A closeup of browned leaves on a tree branch

    On the Last Day

    By Xavier Bordes
    Xavier Bordes
    Photo: Claus Grünstäudl/UnsplashMaybe it will be like the end of a yearwhen you find yourself alone in a deserted roomlike a statue at the end of a public garden pathfaced with bare autumn after the b…
  • A hallway in a hospital with an door open just before a window lit by the sun

    Closer to Where You Will Find Him

    By Michael Mattes
    Michael Mattes
    Photo: Erkan Utu/PexelsWhat I see upon entering a hospital room in St. Paul at dawn.My nieces asleep, one on a cot against the wall, the other in a chair beside the bed, holding my sister’s h…
  • A close-up of the weather worn hands of a angel statue

    Our Lady of the Scales

    By Mélanie Fazi
    Mélanie Fazi
    Photo: Michael Gaida/Pixabay Following a hysterectomy, a woman is drawn to the gothic ambience of a stone statuary garden at her lover’s family’s home. My third sleep…
  • A poster reprints an image of a muscled figure three times with the words "Health for All 2050"

    Health for All

    By Yoss
    Yoss
    Illustration by Jen Rickard Blair For “El Negro” Fontanarrosa, for his lawless fat men . . . A 2050 public health campaign goes too far, resulting in allergy-free municipalities,…
  • The tip of a white pencil laying on a piece of white paper

    The First Day

    By Goli Taraghi
    Goli Taraghi
     The doctor knows about my love of writing. She brings me a handful of white paper and some sharp pencils. I sit at the table and am frozen. What should I write? How? Where should I begin?…