The moth locked up all
winter in the strongbox.
Mostly
mind after a while.
Flimsy scrap
of sky. Diligent
calm.
Like my father
without weight. The door
between us made of water.
Wake up, Daddy.
Your cup. I’m calling.
The whole
thing at once—once
and for all.
Photograph by Angie Garrett
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘But here we are again, you and I, the / two of us, tangled / up and biological.’
‘There really was a moth I found in a toolbox (not as musical or interesting as ‘strongbox’), alive, in the attic, in that box.’
‘At night her friends let loose and relax.’
Photography by Vera Yijun Zhou of house parties and clubs in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.
Our ten most popular pieces of memoir, criticism and reportage, including writing by Mary Gaitskill, Gary Indiana, Christian Lorentzen, Tao Lin and Sheila Heti.
Our ten most popular pieces of fiction this year, including work by J.M. Coetzee, Brandon Taylor and Miranda July.
‘In the not-too-distant future, all men would be on their feet, reduced to wearing out their soles on the streets.’
