Joe Wagner

Come Here - Part Three

On April 10th 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria boarded a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-154...

Come Here - Part Two

Our apartment in Warsaw was a grey, cement building—like all the others I remember in that neighborhood...

Come Here - Part One

In August of 1980, aged twelve, I found myself going to school in Warsaw, Poland. I didn’t speak a word of Polish...

Dancing in the Streets: Part III

The Thread

Non-fiction

After some help from strangers near the peak of their crossing, Neruda says, This I remember well, that when we sought to give the mountain dwellers a few coins in gratitude for their songs, for the food, for the thermal waters, for giving us lodging and beds, I would say for the unexpected refuge that came to us on our journey, our offering was rejected out of hand.

Dancing in the Streets: Part II

The Thread

Non-fiction

The streets were quiet, and somehow the Andes looked happy, even without their snow. Soon after the coronavirus lockdown, the air around them was clear and clean—they seemed to reach a little higher

Dancing in the Streets: Part I

The Thread

Non-fiction

My wife, Sonia, could never get used to living in Ohio. She said it was the weather, but it was more than that. She’s Chilean, and she needs Santiago: the inclination of the Andes, an easy drive to the sea, the world’s driest desert up north, the fiords and glaciers (or what’s left of them) down south.