Issue 2 and Post-Election Solidarity Hour
Welcome to Issue 2! If you’re new here, in September 2020, Khôra entered the global literary village on the back of a glittery wave. Thank you for the spectacularly supportive welcome. We love you, too.
Everyone we know is vibrating with ten thousand emotions—fluctuating between doom-scrolling, activism, carefully moderated H-O-P-E, and preemptive despair. We hope that this month’s issue will fill you with writing and works of art that reach some of the places that need tending.
Let’s jump in.
We’re thrilled to share that this month’s featured writer is the brilliant, brave-hearted Megan Stielstra. Megan is a beloved award-winning essayist and the author of three collections: The Wrong Way To Save Your Life, Once I Was Cool, and Everyone Remain Calm. She is currently a 2020 Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas…and that’s where Megan will be calling in from when she joins us as a reader for our Khôra Launch Party & Solidarity Hour on November 6 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET.
If you’re a subscriber, you’ll receive a Zoom link on the morning of the event. Save the date. We can’t wait to see you!
When you subscribe to Khôra for free, you’ll receive issue highlights straight to your inbox. Subscribers will also receive extra goodies like access to our Zoom happy hour, occasional speaker series, subscriber-only posts, virtual care packages, and more to come. We want to reiterate our philosophy that no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. If you are able to pay for a subscription, we love you, and you help to build access for others. If you’re not able to pay for a subscription, we love you, and welcome to the revolution.
In the meantime, if you’re excited about Khôra, please share us with a friend.
With our galactic gratitude,
Leigh Hopkins and the Corporeal Writing Squad
Click here to read Khôra.
Issue 2 Highlights
In every issue of Khôra, we feature the work of a curated team of four writers and four artists. This team will change every four months. In addition, we feature the work of one groundbreaking writer and one visual artist.
Here’s what we’re excited about in Issue 2:
5:45 by Megan Stielstra
“The lockdown started eight months ago but a hundred years have passed since then or maybe just snap your fingers. I’m forty-five years old in my mother’s basement in Michigan and thirty-three years old giving birth in a blizzard in Chicago and thirty-one years old getting married on a beach at sunset and twenty-eight years old falling in love and twenty-two years old falling in love…”
Read 5:45.
Checklist by Sagirah Shahid / artwork by Christa David
“What have you eaten today?
the good days on my breath
When was the last time you were held?
see how the sun kisses my collarbone through the curtains…”
Read Checklist.
uninitiation by Shane Rowlands / artwork by Lori Lorion
“Outside the party
in fever-sprung night
blurry with bourbon
and pot-smoke I lie
down with grass under
fretwork of flame tree…”
Read uninitiation
Proof by Brute Force by Kirin Khan / artwork by Sara Rahbar
“It was during her Real Analysis class that Joonie reached the disturbing, if obvious, truth: that if there are indeed an infinite set of numbers between any two numbers, all the counting she’d ever done in her life was a lie.”
Unbroken Song by Grace Loh Prasad / artwork by M. Florine Démosthène
“The Women’s Building is a four-story landmark at the corner of 18th Street and Lapidge in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, halfway between Tartine Bakery and the busiest stretch of Valencia Street, with its trendy bars and eateries. In 1971, a group of visionary women founded the first women-owned and operated community center in the country…”
Read Unbroken Song.
Peo by Atang Tshikare
Featured artist Atang Tshikare is a multidisciplinary creative based in Cape Town, specializing in sculptural design since 2016. Atang was influenced by the visual storytelling and graphic style of his father—an anti-Apartheid activist who illustrated for various pan-African publications and art magazines. We invited Atang Tshikare to offer some background about the inspiration behind Peo (Seed) and to share a piece of music that speaks to him in relation to this work.
November 2020 / Issue 3
Khôra will be back next month. If you’re excited about Khôra, please share the love!