Rio Review Fall 2020

Poetry

Sounds Fuel Courage

by Sherry Lowry Fueled by willingness Three-four hot summer days a week I watch you leave our neighborhood. Dauntless, the aware but unafraid Solidly treading, trusty white cane in capable right hand. You make your way toward Manchaca Road’s city busyness A left turn then 77 steps take you to the lamppost of destination. Adroit […]

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Now

by Shannon Getz I write in your old French notebook, my thoughts neatly laid down amongst your impatient scrawl of verb constructions and vocabulary. Je suis Je vais J’étais What was it you were… Happy? Sometimes happy? Pretending for my sake? Très difficile Yes, it is very difficult —to sleep —to think of anything else […]

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I Am

by Selena Pang I am from collective worlds, my mother and all the women before me pushing, pulling and testing limits and possibilities. I am from hushed places where infant girls were bundled and laid in the woods waiting for someone to come along to call them their own. I am from a patriarchy mothers […]

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Fernweh

by Justine Lockhart As I sit slurping ramen I wonder what it’s like to grow up in Japan I want to know the world intimately to be a child in Brazil bright colors feeding my imagination I want to be a teen in France finding first love in the city of love to know Singapore […]

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Emesa (Homs)

by Alaa AbdulSamad I was born in this tiny Paradise– its narrow streets but wide blue sky, its big buildings but cozy homes. This neighborhood says a thousand words. The cars are parked inches away from each other, showing how their owners used to love one another. The buildings are bundled side to side, so […]

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Nonfiction

Hero

by Lorenzo Canseco I walked into the bar and was greeted with a new scent, something I hadn’t smelled in the eight years I’d been alive. Cigarette smoke drifted through the air, moved along by drunken laughs and vulgarities from the kitchen. Texas A&M memorabilia clung to every surface like it was a part of […]

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Mayonnaise Cigarette

by Anthony Esperes-Russo This was my first-time meeting and the first memory I have of my cousin Brian: he is in my room by himself. I look into my room on the way into my mother’s room, and Brian is attempting to steal money out of my sock drawer. He is looking through my drawer […]

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Story

Twelve Sisters

by Amanda Zapp Our names ceased to be of any use to us after our mother died. That was around six years ago. She never got to see any of us marry. She left twelve daughters, who stood in a line in twelve black veils at her funeral. Our youngest was still small; if I […]

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The Stillness and the Stage

by Elijah Wagner I timed my steps to the rhythmic triplets of the cellos, and as the aria grew in intensity, the snow crunching under my footfalls fell silent. I closed my eyes, trusting my feet to guide me along the familiar path home from lessons, and as the world faded away, my attention was […]

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Alma

by Mariana R. Villanueva “Do you think we’ll make it in time, Dad?” Lorena asked. “The doctor said this morning that he’d give her forty-eight hours.” My esophagus tightened painfully. “I called just before your plane arrived. Your tía Ester said your grandma was coughing and having trouble breathing, but holding on.” I cleared my […]

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Script