A found list is a rare analog window into someone else’s needs—an accidental autobiography, a blank space to be filled with one’s imagination.
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Found Poetry, Marital Musings, and our Top 5
“I peeled the list off the windshield and held it like an artifact: evidence of a life I didn’t know but suddenly cared about. It read like a poem. A confession. What was the story behind this list, I wondered—and what would come for this stranger after the checkout aisle?” I love making lists. They […]
Album as Poem, List as Confession, and Our Top 5
We may often think of poetry as something formal or grand, or meant for the pages of a book. But these two essays remind us that poetry lives in many places.
Finding Strength in What’s Routine (and Our Top 5)
It’s a small miracle, I think, to experience a shift in perspective toward empathy. Being intentional about it is a small risk, a small assignment if you will, with the potential for a modest but meaningful personal reward.
People vs. đź‘», Townspeople vs. Nazis, and Our Top 5
“The new bridge is square where the old bridge is round, bustling instead of deserted, awash in the sounds of schools and neighborhoods nearby. At some point, Lydia’s haunting shifted along with the traffic patterns. She’s been seen at both bridges, but the new one is the only place she might still hail passing motorists.” […]
How Concerned Citizens Drove a Neo-Nazi Out of Rural Maine
Christopher Pohlhaus wanted to build a fascist training compound in America’s whitest state. His neighbors had other plans.
Longreads Best of 2016: Under-Recognized Books
We asked our contributors to tell us about a few books they felt deserved more recognition in 2016. Here they are.
Longreads Best of 2016: Essays & Criticism
We asked a few writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here, the best in essays and criticism.
Belly Chains on a Baby Bump: What It’s Like to Be Pregnant in Prison
“One woman [told me] that if she didn’t keep her shackles on, she wouldn’t be able to go to her appointment and [that] other women have been denied access to prenatal vitamins.”

