Walking out, we laughed. Oh, the absurdity— lonesome introvert falling in love with his OS. 2013, after Siri rocked our iPhones, voicing turn-by-turn directions, cooing restaurant recommendations & answering every question cresting on our transient waves of curiosity, but before the rise of incels & AI. But really, who wouldn’t fall for Scarlett Johansson’s mellifluous […]
Elya Braden
Elya Braden is a writer and mixed-media artist living in Oxnard, CA, and is an editor for Gyroscope Review. She is the author of the chapbooks, Open The Fist and The Sight of Invisible Longing. Her full-length collection, Dragonfly Puzzle Box, is forthcoming from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions in 2026. Her work has been published in Anthropocene, Burningword Literary Journal, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Shore, Thimble, and elsewhere. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets. www.elyabraden.com.
Chanting Kaddish for My Estranged Father
after Franny Choi In sitting shiva we shone, we swam, we sang silence into silver, wove wave, warren, wilderness of loss, loaming gardens of grief, in grieving gave grace, gave grave, gave grove, forested faith, fawned, fasted, faded, not five but ten, ten men, meaning men, meaning matter, meaning count, […]