Audio Feature: Nyree Abrahamian (Shō No. 5)
I can think of a few things more entrenched, / like language, syllables strung together // in a lilt
A Conversation with Nathan Xavier Osorio
INTERVIEW A Conversation with Nathan Xavier Osorio Shō intern Claire Zhou interviews Shō contributor Nathan Xavier Osorio, whose poems “How to Cook a Wolf,” “Empty Stadiums,” and “Come, Little Hunger” appear in Shō No. 4. Nathan’s debut collection of poetry, Querida, won the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, selected by Shara McCallum. Claire Zhou …
Audio Feature: Corey Baron (Shō No. 5)
After all, what way is there to leave / a dance floor other than wet // & shaking under a mass of pleading / legs all huddled into a single moving // sacrifice—swaying tall & drowning / in bass?
Audio Feature: Jessica Nirvana Ram (Shō No. 5)
The days have been heavy lately, /
an albatross on each shoulder
Audio Feature: Nathan Xavier Osorio (Shō No. 4)
My mother fell in love with the way you cracked / into an urchin.
Audio Feature: Lana Matthews Sain (Shō No. 4)
I smelled like churned earth, breasts bouldered and leaked / through my support bra into my shirt / for days after his deathbirth.
Cover Artist Feature: Harim Choi, Shō No. 4 & 5
Harim Choi (she/her) is a Korean-American illustrator based in Long Island, New York. She obtained a BFA at Rhode Island School of Design in 2020. She currently works as a painter at a pottery studio. Her work explores absurdity. Follow her on instagram: @harimmch
Audio Feature: Eben E. B. Bein (Shō No. 4)
Mom, since we stopped / speaking, I've been searching / for the first word / you gave me.
Audio Feature: Andrew Payton (Shō No. 3)
My father came to this country / through the womb. My mother, too. // Their mothers and their fathers, too. / But somewhere behind them: a crossing.
Audio Feature: Ally Ang (Shō No. 3)
Today, my heart is working / remotely. I watch it thump / and thrum reliably behind / the blur of a computer screen.
Audio Feature: Richard Vargas (Shō No. 4)
i’m drinking coffee and reading an essay / by Tarantino breaking down Scorsese’s decision to / cast Harvey Keitel as the pimp in Taxi Driver
Audio Feature: Nazifa Islam (Shō No. 4)
The sirens—remembering—often sing to me / of my own deathwish.
Audio Feature: Quinton Okoro (Shō No. 4)
how else would i describe it? / somewhere below all of us // i paced the dirt floor of a deep / and airless pit, digging and uncovering // only daylilies tight and green
Audio Feature: Dare Williams (Shō No. 3)
I’m not good at holding / anything real // the glass the weight these night- / blooming jasmine
Audio Feature: Cass Garison (Shō No. 3)
I share an arm rest / with a stranger who has desires // too.
Audio Feature: Bunkong Tuon (Shō No. 3)
I can tell you about strength. / How the sun warms our skins. / How the moon turns tides.
Audio Feature: Sean Thomas Dougherty (Shō No. 3)
I think I'm tired of auditioning. / I'm not dancing for bread anymore. / I'm not paying your fee.
Recent & Forthcoming Books from Shō No. 3 Poets
Congratulations to these Shō No. 3: Revival Issue (Summer/Fall 2023) contributors, whose books were recently published or are forthcoming! Their books are linked below. You can also read the bios of all Shō No. 3 contributors here. Debut Poetry Collections Ally Ang: Let the Moon Wobble, forthcoming (Alice James Books, 2025) Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer: Bad Animal …
Audio Feature: Cassandra Whitaker (Shō No. 3)
I split into two and the wolf split into four and we kept dividing
our greatness until I matched the air and the wolf matched the earth
Audio feature: Alfonso Zapata (Shō No. 3)
I sling myself up those stairs / with all the other tired men because //
who am I to refuse the slap / of hunched playing cards
Audio feature: Ellen June Wright (Shō No. 3)
Sometimes I forget I came from the Earth / from the rocks, from the spongy moss // was a home for all the squirming, crawling / slippery life that lived under me.
Contributors’ Notes, Shō No. 4
Erica Abbott (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Stone Circle Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Philadelphia Stories, Midway Journal, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, is a Best of the Net nominee, and is a poetry editor for Variant Literature. …