Table of Contents
Foreword Leslie Jamison xv
Introduction Colleen Kinder 1
Symmetry
To the Traveling Magician, Granada, Nicaragua Leslie Jamison 11
To the Woman Who Found Me Crying Outside the Senate, Washington, DC Rachel Swearingen 14
To the Father Paused Under the Tree, Grand Canyon, Arizona Anjali Sachdeva 18
To My Lost Trishaw Driver, Mandalay, Myanmar Pico Iyer 21
To the Child on the Plane, The Cascades, Oregon Lia Purpura 25
To My Arctic Vardøger, Pyramiden, Norway Alexander Lumans 28
To the Girl in the Tattoo Parlor, Dallas, Texas Michelle Tea 33
To the Face in the Subway Glass, Berlin, Germany Annie Schweikert 37
Mystery
To the Loner at High Altitude, Tres Cruces, Peru Elizabeth Kolbert 41
To the First Responder After the Storm, New Orleans, Louisiana David Parker Jr. 44
To the Boy Who Climbed onto My Hammock, Mazunte, Mexico Emily Matchar 49
To the Man I Believe Was Good, Palermo, Italy Lauren Groff 52
To the Man Who Saw Cobras Dance, Auroville, India Meera Subramanian 55
To the Woman Who Wanted to Go Shoe Shopping, Xi'an, China Vanessa Hua 59
To the Chatty Man Who Pierced the Quiet, Canaan, New Hampshire Peter Orner 63
To the Boo Radley of My Childhood, Sydney, Australia Madelaine Lucas 66
To the Grandfather I Hardly Knew, Sicily Italy Peter Turchi 71
To My Grandmother, c/o the Mush Hole, Tit Kanatáhere Amber Meadow Adams 75
Chemistry
To the Girl at the Riverbend, Baker River, New Hampshire Howard Axelrod 81
To the Stranger in My Family, Bethesda, Maryland Kiki Petrosino 85
To the Man Who Spoke with His Hands, South China Sea Ying Reinhardt 89
To the Taxi Driver Who Looped Back to Get Me, Paris, France Irina Reyn 94
To the Woman Whose Shoulder I Slept On, New York City to Boston Naomi Gordon-Loehl 98
To the Source Who Kept Changing Costume, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Keija Parssinen 103
To the Father of the Baby with the Brain Freeze, Tucson, Arizona Margo Steines 109
To the Inescapable Teacher, Parakou, Benin Erica Cavanagh 113
To the Gambler I Met in Jury Duty, Chinatown, New York City Jenessa Abrams 118
To the Stranger from the Silver Hour, Rocamadour, France Colleen Kinder 123
Gratitude
To the Pharmacist on Futong West Street, Beijing, China Monet Patrice Thomas 133
To the Woman Who Spared Me an Orange, Oaxaca, Mexico Sarah Menkedick 136
To the Driver I Followed, Interstate 40, North Carolina Matthew Olzmann 139
To the Man Who Sold Me Shoddy Film, Harar, Ethiopia Meron Hadero 142
To Sandals Man, An airport terminal, Central China Craig Mod 145
To the Driver Who Was Not Godfrey, Kampala, Uganda Raksha Vasudevan 149
To the Waiter Who Left Me a Tip, Beyoglu District, Istanbul Turkey Michael Agresta 155
To the Doctor I Never Thanked, Tarrytown, New York Aria Beth Sloss 160
To the Woman Who Walked Beside Me, Yonkers, New York Sarah Perry 165
To the Drunk Mr. Flunchy, Avignon, France Gregory Pardlo 169
Wonder
To the Seller of Breadcrumbs, Buenos Aires, Argentina Cutter Wood 177
To the Woman on the Park Bench, Central Park, New York City Aviya KusÚer 181
To My Steadfast Danish Soldier, Copenhagen, Denmark Julie Lunde 185
To the Young German Horsewoman, Chosen to Help with Réttir, Óbyggdasetur Íslands, Iceland Pam Houston 189
To the Lady of the Platform, New York, New York Jacquelyn Mitchard 193
To the Italian Whose Name I Lost, Florence, Italy Julia Glass 197
To the Traveler Who Hid Cash in Her Underwear, Rwanda-Tanzania border Ted Conover 202
To the Lady of the Blackberries, Happy Camp, California Kelly Ramsey 205
Remorse
To the Logari Who Asked About the Sun, Logar Province, Afghanistan Jamil Jan Kochai 213
To the Roomful of Travelers Watching Reality TV, La Paz, Bolivia Anna Vodicka 217
To Mario, 26-Year-Old Bestie to My 78-Year-Old Mom, Sunnyside, Washington Faith Adiele 222
To the Son of the Victim, Santa Rosa, California Sophie Haigney 227
To the Woman with the Restraining Order, Hoodsport, Washington Meg Charlton 232
To the Woman We Met Before the Flood, Pai, Thailand Maggie Shipstead 237
To the Servant Girl Who Shared My Toys, Karachi, Pakistan Sheba Karim 242
To the Keeper of the Fawn, Chisago City, Minnesota Sally Franson 245
To the Woman Harboring a Gringo, San Isidro del General, Costa Rica Jesse Donaldson 249
Farewell
To the Poet Who Disappeared, Okinawa, Japan Akemi JoÚson 255
To the Woman in the Earrings, Provincetown, Massachusetts T Kira Madden 258
To the Protagonist of a Too-Short Story, US Route If, New York Carlynn Houghton 262
To the Follower of Cheikh Bamba, Dakar, Senegal Emmanuel Iduma 265
To the Father of the Lost Chilean Son, Chilean base, Antarctica Carin Clevidence 269
To the Man Who Had a Wife, Coshocton, Ohio Rachel Yoder 274
To the One Who Was Supposed to Get Away, Ko Pha Kgan, Thailand Lavinia Spalding 278
To the Stranger My Doctor Heard All About, Portland, Oregon Robin Romm 281
To the Deliveryman Who Gave Me a Lift, Caracas, Venezuela Lucas Mann 285
To the Girl I Didn't Love on the Last Bus Home, Guanacaste, Costa Rica Jeremy B. Jones 288
Acknowledgments 293
About the Contributors 297
