Weathering

Cyclones are better than wildfires, than
smoke that blows hundreds of miles to
thicken the air. In the East Bay, high
levels of particulate matter from our
regular winter pollution are blown away
at forty-to-fifty miles per hour as
the storms pummel our flats and hills
drenching the earth not quite enough
to combat years of drought as I ride
through hail and flooded roads to borrow
a car so I can pick up the …

More In: Chronicles

Coventry Street, Detroit

(The black mold fungus Stachybotrys chartarum was originally discovered on the wall of a house in Prague in 1837. The average person inhales at least 40 conidia (fungus …

I Shamed the Valleys That Wanted To Eat Me

I don’t want to wait till the moment of my dying
to realize what I have ignored all my life.
I want you to climb me. Climb me because I …

Despy Boutris, against a white sheet as background, looks into the camera with head slightly turned to her left with a small smile.

Cityscape With Dysthymia

Despy Boutris Wins a 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award

Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize …

Black and white close up of Andrew Calis facing the camera with a grin.

Trying to Explain What Knafeh Is

Andrew Calis Wins a 2023 Zócalo Poetry Prize Honorable Mention Award

Every year, we award the annual Zócalo Poetry Prize to the poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is pleased to recognize …

Where I Go: The Playground That Helped Make Prague Feel Like Home

On the Plastic Benches of Výtoň’s Park, I Watched Our Sons Play and Let My Imagination Roam

In 2013, my wife and I rented an apartment in Výtoň, a classic urban neighborhood south of the tourist-packed city center of Prague. This wasn’t my first move to the …