by Shipra Agarwal I ask the taxi driver to drop me outside the neighborhood. A Maruti WagonR parked in front of the house will draw too much attention. “Go have tea or something, but be here in exactly forty-five minutes,” I tell him, as I wrap a brown stole around my shoulders and… [Read More]
Witness Magazine
Love in the Time of Racial Reckoning
by Nicole Zhao As I walk down the streets in parts of Manhattan or Brooklyn, the coupling of white men and Asian women is prevalent. They span the age range: from hipster millennials decorated in tattoos to elderly couples in periwinkle shorts and argyle cardigans. I size them up with both disdain and curiosity—even though… [Read More]
Ocean Home
by Ashmita Malkani Taipei. 2018. When I arrived, Radha Auntie poured two glasses of red wine. We sat, sipping, at the small dining room table. Beside us, the entryway to the kitchen, and the living room behind. Her small painting room opened with two sliding doors. A canvas perched on an easel, and… [Read More]
Feeding Time
by Jen Soong The moon is half-full and you are packing the only suitcase you own. Well, it’s your Ma’s but she doesn’t know. The exterior is robin’s egg blue with a hard shell and hairline white cracks zigzagging like lightning. Your neck cranes towards the soft blue interior pockets and you inhale… [Read More]
My Edible Wife
by Melisa Gregorio It began on Christmas Eve morning with wisps of chocolate above my wife’s lips. I had just stretched the sleep from my limbs when I noticed her new brown moustache. “You didn’t share your midnight snack with me,” I said. I kissed and licked along her lips until the… [Read More]
Where Are You From?
by Cynthia Landesberg My sons and I amble down the sidewalk, soaking in the sun. My six-year-old son’s hand rests securely in mine, fingers comfortable, grip easy. My three-year-old son’s hand feels foreign to me, cool and awkward. I am hyper-aware of every shift of a finger, every change in pressure, like holding hands… [Read More]
Vol. XXXV No. 2 – Saṃsāra: the Asian Voices Issue
Editors’ Note: When we first launched this call, all we knew was that we wanted to create a special Witness prose issue that featured Asian voices from all across the globe. We could never have expected the hearteningly exuberant response and the outpouring of community support our call received. The result is Saṃsāra, a collection… [Read More]
Bark of the Mango Tree
by Sara Chansarkar I was born brown, as brown as the bark of the mango tree outside our house. I’d inherited Amma’s features—her round eyes and sharp nose—but not her wheat-colored skin tone. My coloring tinged a shade even darker than Baba’s skin. Perhaps, Amma never needed to apply a dot of kohl on my… [Read More]
A Rickshawwallah in London
by Rahad Abir 1 You land in London with £210 in your pocket. It is the year 2009. You are able to pay the first month’s rent for the room, but not the deposit. You have to share it with an acquaintance from Dhaka. He arrived a week prior. It is a… [Read More]
Vol. XXXV No. 1 – Spring 2022
Editor’s Note: In the ’90s, the “Missed Connections” craigslist advertisement section held a spark of intrigue or, dare we say, romance in the idea that a chance encounter might lead to the possibility of something better. Yes, at times, these ads could be a bit too revealing of our innermost desires, but even at… [Read More]
Beethoven’s Fifth in the Segregated Housing Unit by John Quintero
A young man sang in wild tones from isolation, in operatic moans that filled the cathedral ceilings of bedlam, vocalized feelings: “I’m bored. I’m bored. I’m really fucking bored.” Over. And over. And over. John Quintero was a former member of the workshop before being transferred to another facility. Highly… [Read More]
Three Haiku by Laurence Taaffe
A grove with no practitioners is blown away in winter Early on solstice morning raccoons sleep in the trees but they are not themselves trees Summer’s end when lady bugs attack they bite hard Laurence Taaffe is an artist and poet who has been in the workshop for several years…. [Read More]