Author Archives: Shelley Puhak

About Shelley Puhak

Shelley Puhak is a poet and essayist from Baltimore. She is the author of two poetry collections, the more recent of which is the critically-acclaimed Guinevere in Baltimore. Her essays have appeared in Black Warrior Review, Creative Nonfiction, and Fourth Genre.

Writing an Elegy for Ellicott City While Reading T.S. Eliot

It is the oldest story— one part of a town destroying the other, oblivious. Continue reading

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The Sinister History of U-Shaped Toilet Seats

Bathroom fixtures, magical thinking, and cultural complicity. Continue reading

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A Tale of Complicity in the City of Freddie Gray

How slavery helped finance Baltimore’s most storied institution of higher learning. Continue reading

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A Ghost Tour of Baltimore’s Riots

Baltimore is like no other city. Baltimore is like too many other cities. It is not just a city that has fostered inequality, but one founded upon it, upon a Land of Pleasant Living forged through violence and intimidation. Continue reading

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