Retro Summer, Aug ’25 Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Guest Editor: Ume Aiman Tariq Managing Editor: Taryn White Associate Editor: Leah Joseph Assistant Editors: Robbie Hess and Jade Turner Intern: Margaret Brantley Jay Edge, “Causeway Bridge from the Marina,” charcoal on paper Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter…
Read MoreLetter from the Editor Vallie Lynn Watson __________ Because I’ve never really left school, summer, to me, is the pause of school, the lack of school, the time to take a deep breath before the return to school but, nonetheless, permanently connected to school, and I’m thrilled that we’re releasing…
Read MoreLetter from the Guest Editor Ume Aiman Tariq __________ I came up with the idea of doing a Retro Summer issue a year ago. At the time, I was contemplative and nostalgic about the summer experiences that I had growing up in Pakistan. We slept in until noon and usually…
Read MoreNumbers Frightened Me Robin Michel __________ Not the shapes, colors and textures decorating the classroom walls,but what to do after writing each problem in pencil on lined paperknowing my erasures would rub holes into the once smooth surface. When no one looked, I counted on my fingers, needing more digits…
Read MoreAn Ode to Shakuntala Devi, or Puzzles to Frustrate You A set of five gogyoshi Gargi Mehra __________ If your friend is twice as old as youwere when he was three years youngerthan you, how many candles would you blowbefore you unravelled the mysteriesof the woman who humbled calculators When…
Read MoreLetter from the Guest Editor Karris Rae __________ Human minds like binaries. Maybe this is why we’ve come to see math and poetry on opposite sides of a spectrum: one end cold, practical, unfeeling, artless; the other warm, frivolous, passionate, human. I’ve bounced between these extremes for a long time…
Read MoreCalculation with Women as Birds in Post-Roe America Stefanie Kirby __________ An egg in the hand is worth more than an egg in the tree,which is worth more than the basket of shattered eggs.There are no birds in this problem. No birds laying eggs.No birds inside eggs that were laid.…
Read MoreThe Cost to Benefit Ratio of Grief Linea Jantz __________ you taught methe logarithm of lossis infinite to the power of n+1, where n=love the next number in the series iszero you can divide griefamong a thousand empty plates and still havenothing to quote Mean Girls:the limit does not exist…
Read MoreHow Your World Ends A Fibonacci series flash Keith Powell __________ baDUM. baDUM. Heart attack? You lurch outside. The bar’s back alley beckons. You worry you might die in secret here. People will find your pickled corpse between garbage cans and crushed cigarette butts. People will tut-tut that that’s the…
Read MoreWord Problems (You Do the Math) Christina Tudor __________ 1. If you walk down Fletcher Avenue instead of Adams Lane every time you walk home because, although it’s .3 miles longer, Fletcher Avenue has better lighting, more witnesses, how many extra miles do you walk in a year, in a…
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