The Presto Letters

In an older sense of the word, to understand means “to stand among.” When I need to understand anything, I often stand among songs.

Songs for the Presto Issue (A Selection)

An ineffable, blink-quick mix of songs chosen by our team & contributors to evoke the flirtation of silk & song woven through the presto issue.

In the back alley of my mind a taxi leaked orange light against the worst of my wounding and I said, I want to leave that here.

The Elegy Letters (A Selection)

My work as a writer is aimed at truth which, like a song, cannot be contained.

Songs for the Elegy Issue (A Selection)

A series of songs chosen by Issue X’s contributors, a mix to light up all that desperate quiet & sing the grief alive.

The Synaesthesia Letters (A Selection)

When a poem reaches its most potent limits, I consider it reaching into the state of song.

A selection of songs that have marked this era of fluid warmth, the soundtrack to which we’ve been dreaming a bright new thing into breath.

Ode to the Gothic Heroine (A Selection)

Our heroine keeps walking, and we follow, unseen ally, shadow of hope, anticipating the thrills and horrors lying in wait.

Though perhaps not as loud as what we know today, queerness has always been alive in music, hopeful and radiant and revolutionary and gentle.

To Return (A Car Ride, A Selection)

How exactly do we hold our distance while also holding the truth of others’ shared humanity? How do we reach out and still remain safe?