The Brussels Review: Spring 2026

Featured artist: Vlada Teaca

Grief, reminiscence, trauma — and watermelons. Nine stories built around change and what refuses to pass: Jacqueline Chou's memoir of 1970s childhood poverty and a misdirected punishment, Kevin MacAlan's son forging postcards from a West Indies cricket tour his dead father never took, Anthony Schneck's absurdist quest to prove watermelons have changed taste. Four essays run from a café in Seoul to gender in the Romance languages, and four poets compress the rest.

Nonfiction

Mark Crimmins: Glimpses Of Gangnam 
James B. Nicola: The Gentle Revolution 
Ann Perrins: Asparagus, a Gift for Audrey 
Pete Warzel: Damage

Poetry

Ann Marie Gamble: Just Asking · Trying · Ode to the Peach · Just Write · The Cashier · An Early Morning Along the Road to the Lake Collin
Garrity: Leafblower · Hospital Poem · Naked Polaroid Vending Machine · Bathroom Floor · Skin On 
Olivia Soule: The Deep End of the Pool · computers don't have feelings · Blood Draws in Los Angeles 
Ty Cronkhite: Ode to the Ellipses · Sonnet Regarding Buttons

Fiction

Jacqueline Chou: An Ode to Jammie Evans 
Marcus Delmont: Three Days 
Meryl A.H. Franzos: Hair of the Dog 
Erin Gaura: Bed Linens 
Kevin MacAlan: Wish You Were Here 
Scott Macmann: A Child's Christmas in Ohio · Gracie 
John Picard: The People's Choice 
Anthony Schneck: Flavor Profile 
Thomas Wright: Anglo-Irish