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The Departed

November 2018

In the US, Thanksgiving is this month’s major holiday, but for others November opens with the second and third days of the celebration known collectively as the Day of the Dead. Those days—Halloween, All Saints’ Day (that much-missed, exquisitely timed holiday for Catholic trick-or-treaters), and All Souls’ Day—prompt our consideration of the departed, as well as contemplation of our own mortality. We’re marking the holiday with writing that explores different reactions to loss of a loved one.

Honor Thy Father and Mother: In Mourning
By Susan Harris
All people mourn in their own ways.
The Urn
By Marcin Wicha
It’s vile to disregard somebody’s sense of aesthetics just because they’re dead.
Translated from Polish by Marta Dziurosz
Remains of a Party in Condesa
By Ariel Urquiza
The clown had put the platter of coke on his head, like a waiter carrying a tray.
Translated from Spanish by Samantha Schnee
You Died on Me
By José Luís Peixoto
And I neither want nor can forget what I once felt from your gaze.
Translated from Portuguese by Robin Patterson
Condolences
By Mishka Lavigne
Gabrielle Sauriol lies in the Pacific Ocean now.
Translated from French by Neil Blackadder