October 30, 2013 – Michigan Quarterly Review

October 30, 2013

Breaking Bread

* Zhanna Slor *

Instead of knocking on wood, Russians will spit three times over their left shoulder. If a chicken crows at you three times before noon, the death of a close family member should be expected within the month. Talking about future success: bad luck. Birds that tap on your window: bad luck. Encountering or crossing the path of a funeral procession: bad luck. Bread cut with your hands instead of a knife: bad luck. A woman coming towards you with empty buckets (when would this even happen anymore?): bad luck. There is a very distinct pattern emerging here: nearly everything in the Soviet Union was a cause of bad luck! Though I really think most of it could just be attributed to living in the Soviet Union.

Breaking Bread Read More »

* Zhanna Slor *

Instead of knocking on wood, Russians will spit three times over their left shoulder. If a chicken crows at you three times before noon, the death of a close family member should be expected within the month. Talking about future success: bad luck. Birds that tap on your window: bad luck. Encountering or crossing the path of a funeral procession: bad luck. Bread cut with your hands instead of a knife: bad luck. A woman coming towards you with empty buckets (when would this even happen anymore?): bad luck. There is a very distinct pattern emerging here: nearly everything in the Soviet Union was a cause of bad luck! Though I really think most of it could just be attributed to living in the Soviet Union.

MQR 52:3 | Summer 2013

MQR goes back to school! Read a cluster of poems, stories, and essays that talk about life in the classroom and the world of academe—work by Rebecca Makkai, Kelsey Ronan, Cindy Clem, Stephen Burt, Douglas Trevor, and Eileen Pollack

plus…

Poetry by Karen An-hwei Lee and Li Qingzhao

Fiction by Matthew Baker, Colin Fleming, and David Lynn

The Hopwood Lecture by Gary Snyder

Poetry review by Laurence Goldstein

MQR 52:3 | Summer 2013 Read More »

MQR goes back to school! Read a cluster of poems, stories, and essays that talk about life in the classroom and the world of academe—work by Rebecca Makkai, Kelsey Ronan, Cindy Clem, Stephen Burt, Douglas Trevor, and Eileen Pollack

plus…

Poetry by Karen An-hwei Lee and Li Qingzhao

Fiction by Matthew Baker, Colin Fleming, and David Lynn

The Hopwood Lecture by Gary Snyder

Poetry review by Laurence Goldstein

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