We believe in work across genres, across spaces, across traditional forms of ownership and publication.
Forms shift. Containers reshape.
In this special collaborative issue, we are excited to publish the debut issue of 3 Sisters in print. Hosted on the 3 Sisters website and published in print by Aster(ix), this issue connects our two worlds with writing that moves us beyond the page. This collaboration honors our mission to publish, support and amplify experimental works by visionary editors and writers.
Featuring work by Amanda Hodes, Amy Sara Carroll, Arpita Roy, Ashley Dailey, Ashley 敏 Pao, Caren Beilin, Claire Dauge-Roth, Connor Donovan, Diane Glancy, Dior J. Stephens, Hai-Dang Phan, Izzy Knapp, Kara Knickerbocker, Kelly Hoffer, Madelyn Parker, Mylo Lam, Nick Martino, Noor Al-Samarrai, Pennie Bisbee Walters, Rosine Selemani, sara e. hughes, Seth Leeper, and Shantal Jeewon Kim with cover art by Lavender Wodnick.
We are grateful to the senior editors of this issue: Aya Burton, Lila Bonow, David Lo, and TC Martin.
3 Sisters is a (mostly) digital journal of text, image, and objects. It is a portal for creative work that exists in between spaces, genres, disciplines, and modalities of convention. We are drawn to Surprise. The Unlikely. The Weird. The Wild.
3 Sisters is based out of the University of Pittsburgh’s Writing Program and is founded by Diana Khoi Nguyen with help from current and former students.
all of the pieces are available to read online for free on the 3 Sisters website
or for purchase in-print here.
Table of Contents
Rules for Engagement | An Introduction and Welcome
PART 1: APPROACH
- “A Practical Guide To Miscarriage” by Ashley 敏 Pao
- “UNDERWEARWASHER” by Caren Beilin
- “[ the forget-me-nots ]” by sara e. hughes
- Excerpts from the poet’s novel-in-progress, “MARFA, MARTA” by Amy Sara Carroll
- “The Anxiety Meds Are Making Me Forget Edges” by Ashley Dailey
- “nocturn with today’s cancer” by Izzy Knapp
- “III” & “Elegy” by Arpita Roy
- “Some Traveler’s Notes on Protest and Palestine” by Noor Al-Samarrai
- “poem with feminine wiles” & “zigzagging poem” by Kelly Hoffer
PART 2: BRIDGE
a folio from our sibling, Carlow University
- “A Trinity of Poems” by Diane Glancy
- “Passing the Birmingham Bridge” by Pennie Bisbee Walters
- “Triage” by Kara Knickerbocker
PART 3: DEPARTURE
- “BUG to BUG” & “[[[ Centralia, Pennsylvania ]” by Amanda Hodes
- “Three Poems” by Nick Martino
- “2008″ by Rosine Selemani
- “Tri Nhan 004 By The Altar of Desire” & “The Collector Comprehends Time” by Mylo Lam
- “Son Ghazal” by Connor Donovan
- “Crossing the Mekong: In Search of Lost Memories” by Hai-Dang Phan
- “Optics” by Claire Dauge-Roth
- “Crescent” by Shantal Jeewon Kim
- “Protasis Tryptic” by Madelyn Parker
- “Dystopian Sound Machine” & “Dystopian Compliance Machine” by Seth Leeper
- “hellscape two: hood” & “hellscape four-b: pascal-a” & “hellscape six: (alternate)” by Dior J. Stephens
Rules for Engagement
An Introduction and welcome
What emotion, reader, have you been experiencing?
If you are scared, be numerous.
What started as a small idea turned into a growing community. Current and former students showed up. Then they came back.
It truly wasn’t anything fancy. It was a small fun group.1
“It was a fine cry—loud and long—but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.”2
At dawn, a woman sits on a riverbank at the water’s edge. Her reflection is trapped in the water before her. Her shadow is nailed to the soil behind her. She is split three ways: Be stone not Sight not Thought but Gash.
When crisis arrives as a question, follow where the music comes from waltzing in one-two-three.
Step in. What’s stopping you from touching the page—from folding, tearing, collapsing language?
Come back, bring (a) friend(s).
– the Editors
Aster(ix) Masthead
- Editor-in-Chief/Founder • Angie Cruz
- Publisher/Founder • Adriana E. Ramírez
- Senior Editor • Amanda Tien, Tanya Shirazi Galvez, David Lo
- Managing Editor • Chandreyee Ray
Aster(ix) print issues are published twice a year with additional content online. Aster(ix) is funded in part by the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English at University of Pittsburgh, as well as by the School of the Arts at Columbia University.
3 Sisters Masthead
- Faculty Editor/Founder • Diana Khoi Nguyen
- Senior Editors • Lila Bonow, Aya Burton, David Lo, T.C. Martin
- Editors working within, across, and between genres •Noah Asimow, Joaquin Gotera, Jason Germaine Hawkins, Luke Koesters, Lissette Norman, Amari Onyx, Morgan Varnado
- Undergraduate Editor • Erica Kuhlman
- Internet • Jason Germaine Hawkins, Lissette Norman, Gaia Rajan
3 Sisters is funded in part by the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English at University of Pittsburgh.
