MADELINE SIMMS After midnight, cottonwoods are inconsequential teeth, ripped from the ground by the Mississippi River. An elm snaps like a bird’s neck: an egret. The current betrays every fluttering heart and rages on. A rock becomes sepulcher to the uprooted nest. The river could be less cruel, the winter, more forgiving.| The Common
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THANK YOU to our Uncommon Friends for supporting The Common’s mission to publish global, place-inspired literature. Your generosity allows us to launch emerging writers, to mentor student interns, to support teachers, to host public events, and to build| The Common
Fiction, essays, poetry, and more.| The Common
LENA MOSES-SCHMITT I think sometimes movement can be used to show how thought is made manifest outside the body. And also just more generally: when you leave the house, when you are walking, your thoughts change because your environment changes, and your body is changing. Moving is a way of your consciousness interacting with the world.| The Common
EMILIA PARDO BAZÁN The large glass windows, the white marble display cases, the gleaming scales, the gilded brass taps, the wood-paneled ceiling, the banquettes lined with plush, green Utrecht velvet, the sparkling tins of canned food stacked in pyramids, the ripe pineapples and bananas triumphantly arranged.| The Common
ISSA QUINCY They are dense redbrick high rises. Each one perfectly equidistant from the other. Along the face of each building is an endless number of windows that on certain days, in certain lights, with the sun shimmering off them, seem to ripple like great red undulations flashing as you drive in their shadow.| The Common
MARIAH RIGG As someone who often writes environmentally-focused fiction, I’m always looking for work that recognizes the hopelessness I feel concerning the future of the Earth while also focusing on how (and why) the hell we keep going as our world barrels toward collapse.| The Common
Q: What if I’m busy and can’t work on the week’s prompts? Will they expire? A: No. While we hope that writing every week is part of your program experience, we understand that life gets in the way. The prompts are yours to download and keep, so you can start writing whenever you have time.| The Common
Weekly Writes Summer 2025 kicks off on July 14 to keep you motivated and meeting your writing goals all through the late-summer heat! Sign up now!| The Common
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NINA SEMCZUK That morning Irina Pychenko found herself in the ditch, again. It was the fourth time in a month. “Third time this week I’ve found someone right here,” said the gentleman outside of her window, who was hooking a chain to the tow hitch under the back bumper.| The Common
LILY LLOYD BURKHALTER By this point, Albert was holding my shoulders in a tight grip. Neither of us spoke. In the museum’s subdued light, time sputtered to a halt—as it must have for the boy years ago, facing down the snake or the village elder, depending on what one believes.| The Common
HISHAM BUSTANI Without the above diverse groups, there would have been no Amman. This mosaic of people, languages, traditions, and tastes created Amman, transforming it in four decades from a khirbeh to a city. All cities are birthed, shaped, and formed by migrants.| The Common
MARIAH RIGG His boss didn’t want to give him this assignment, preferring to send Harrison to the Big Island to oversee the grading of coastal land for a resort. But Harrison fought for this job, promised that it would provide more contracts for the company in the future.| The Common
ILAN STAVANS I have lapsed; / I have been arrogant; / I have rallied my people to the battlefield; / I have built alliances based on self-interest. / Yet I have also rebuilt Texcoco from the ashes, / erecting temples, gardens, and libraries, / all designed to erase our enemies.| The Common