POEM BY CLAIRE BUSWELL
Editor’s Note: On Jan. 25, 2026, ICE agents near Seattle, Wash., detained a father who was driving his 2-year-old son to daycare. In the backseat of the man’s car, the toddler sat alone in his car seat for 30 minutes, waiting for someone to pick him up after his father was taken away.
Writer Claire Buswell wrote her poem in response to the news story. p>
A COLLECTION BY AJ JOHNSON
Already—before the recent changes—one of the things living in France had taught me was a story of America’s greatness, as seen from the outside. The way France’s newscasters follow our elections with careful explanations of the electoral college and graphics showing states turning blue or red. The way the world follows each pronouncement uttered by our leaders, because those pronouncements will affect that world, the world outside America that doesn’t vote for U.S. leaders but lives in those leaders’ downstream impact.
A COLLECTION BY AJ JOHNSON
Already—before the recent changes—one of the things living in France had taught me was a story of America’s greatness, as seen from the outside. The way France’s newscasters follow our elections with careful explanations of the electoral college and graphics showing states turning blue or red. The way the world follows each pronouncement uttered by our leaders, because those pronouncements will affect that world, the world outside America that doesn’t vote for U.S. leaders but lives in those leaders’ downstream impact.p>
POEM BY VAGRANT MOON
PHOTO BY JC JOHNSON
POEM BY RACHEL JOY WELCHER
PHOTO BY EJ BOWMAN
POEM AND DIGITAL IMAGE BY GLORIA NEWTON
After the fires in Maui, Hawaii
POEM BY GHAZAL AL-MADADHA
POEM BY JAKE GZ
POEM & PHOTOS BY EJ BOWMAN
