multiplicity: a nonfiction literary magazine

Issue 1: Borders, Boundaries, and Belonging

Spring 2020

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Multiplicity Magazine, an online literary journal hosted by the MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Bay Path University. Our first issue was conceived many months ago as an exploration of the theme “borders, boundaries, and belonging.” The topic is relevant to so many of us today as we grapple with boundaries between nations, cultures, religions, political parties, genders, ages, abilities—and look for where, how, and to whom we belong…[Read our entire welcome statement and our response to Covid-19]

IN THIS ISSUE

Borders: Separating & Joining

Boundaries: Moments in Life

Belonging: Connecting & Disconnecting

Belonging: Inclusion and Exclusion

Poetry

multiplicity blog

The Right Hand of the Father

By Reverie Koniecki When I was still young enough to believe I could become president someday, but old enough to watch my little brother occasionally, my family went to two different Baptist churches. On weekends when my mother didn’t have to work, we went to a church where the congregation looked like us. The preacher went in and out of song when he felt moved, and the choir responded to his lead the same way […]

Fresh Off the Boat

By Linda Wisniewski Imagine your feet in damp socks inside your sneakers. You jump over puddles on a busy Italian street. Rain drips off your glasses as you try to read the map your cruise line provided, searching for Mercato Centrale di Livorno—the Livorno Central Market. You’re nervous, but you think of your grandparents arriving in the U.S. 100 years ago. If they could navigate the streets of a foreign country, so can you. Your […]

Two Peas in a Pod

By Alexandra Ronn You save meWhen I am a new kid in schoolShy, awkward, four-eyes, tinsel-teethBlushing all shades of pink and redEighth grade lab partner, note-passer, new best friendYou say we’re two peas in a podI smileYou lead, I follow High school together, we laugh and laughNo books for youSo I dumb down to stayIn your shadow14 years old, 15, 16, 17Drinking age 18, easy to getYou lead, I follow First time off the path: senior […]

From our contributors

No matter how unfair life may be, no matter how many obstacles you may need to overcome, if your goal stays consistent and your belief in yourself remains steady, you can retain hope.

Mel Allen

I can't stop thinking about those at the border...dear God, don't let the flaming arrow of COVID-19 hit the detention centers and the people inside the belly of this broken system.

Jennifer DeLeon

There's still talk of borders and sanctions but nobody can deny that we're all in this together.

Mia Gallagher

I am curious about the world that will emerge after this.... Now that we are all on the same page, who will we become together?

Shahnaz Habib

When the outside world is silenced, the inside world begs us to listen. May the silence we discover within be the silence we keep when we can go out again.

Karol Jackowski

Today, I'm acutely aware of how important a genuine community is, not only to our well-being and fulfillment but also to our ultimate survival.

Leanna James Blackwell

I’m thinking of my ancestors,...the challenges they faced...their thoughts and feelings—not knowing what’s ahead, sensing that nothing will be the same, but finding strength to carry on in the face of tremendous loss.

Deborah Kaufman

Hope is more crucial than ever in these pandemic-clouded days.

Nuala O'Connor

Now is our chance to find focus and live beyond our fear to be our best and brightest selves.

Sophfronia Scott

The world we took so much for granted may never be the same. But let us vow to cherish what remains, and what we work together to rebuild.

Charles Coe