Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page.
Waste Not
By Desiree Cooper
“Time stretching languid in the humid afternoon tastes like caramel cake. It smells like pine needles in the rain.” —excerpted from “Waste Not,” by Desiree Cooper, River Teeth, Beautiful Things, September 29, 2025
Desiree Cooper is the author of the award-winning collection of flash fiction, Know the Mother. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in The Best Small Fictions 2018, Callaloo, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, and Best African American Fiction 2010. Her essay, “We Have Lost Too Many Wigs,” was a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2019.
“Using truth and wit, Desiree Cooper was the perfect conduit for university presses to have larger conversations about diversity and representation through books starting with their covers.
Cooper, an electric speaker, is a master at navigating the tricky waters of difficult conversations by never excluding failures, but instead owning and learning from them and encouraging others to grow from these lessons.” —Annie Martin, Editor-in-Chief, Wayne State University Press
