Size / / /

Content warning:



Mami has a timeshare in heaven
can’t afford a seaside condo
never has to cook
not one meal
the dining table cooks for her
atol de elote, pupusas, pho, chinese food, boba, and Taco Tuesday tacos

Mami’s timeshare is right in her price range
her happy place
cumbias play, tears do not flow
the landlord says “no crying for
dead relatives in El Salvador”
no feast for el dia de los difuntos in heaven
only entree after entree for Mami
atol de elote, pho, boba, pupusas
Taco Tuesday tacos, one dollar Spam musubi

Mami hears a knock on the door
lets me into the timeshare
I’ve finally come to visit
carrying three bags of takeout
conchas, sushi, and chicken vindaloo

the food on the table is rotten
the paint on the walls is chipped
Mami is third-world thin
I feed her

she refuses to chew



Ruben Reyes Jr. is an MFA candidate in fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His writing has appeared in The Florida Review OnlineThe Acentos ReviewThe Harvard CrimsonPidgeonholes, and other publications. You can follow him on Twitter @rubenwrites or email him at rreyesjr1996@gmail.com.
Current Issue
21 Apr 2025

tomorrow when i have hardened, and your body has renewed.
A recent wave of research into the quantum properties of emotion suggests that love may be more than a fleeting human experience
Every spring, the new year came down from the mountains to eat the old one.
Issue 14 Apr 2025
Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons
Issue 7 Apr 2025
By: Lowry Poletti
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 31 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Mar 2025
Issue 17 Mar 2025
Issue 10 Mar 2025
By: Holli Mintzer
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
Issue 3 Mar 2025
Issue 24 Feb 2025
Issue 17 Feb 2025
Issue 10 Feb 2025
By: Alexandra Munck
Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
Load More