by Nkateko Masinga I circled your bed at midnightchanting love me,then made your silence my poison& died died& still didn’t have you in the brief, bitter afterlife that ensued imagine this wasn’t a dream would you wake upand wade to sea with my soul? would you remember me? broken boatwitch with no coven & no spell book voyeur atContinue reading “Boat With No Oar”
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To the Staring Boy on 43rd and Walnut
by Katbug your faceis a silent confessional hair an evolving demarcation of time,so easily broken by the unkind curve of your brow Who sowed your eyes with that disapproval?Is it the same one who put that curve in your nose? Or is that the nose of the warmer months not wasted?a four wheeled slip a skidmarkContinue reading “To the Staring Boy on 43rd and Walnut”
Slowdance
by Shanel Edwards Every femme i’ve ever danced with laces in between the gaps of my teeth. glazing hands with nervous loving down my sculpted back. pressing a memory stain into itlavender and full, moving together while Etta sings At Last each note, the breaths we take between our pelvis. This is a heaven without cis men. Femme sternum a stone house drowning outContinue reading “Slowdance”
Icarus
by Taylor Alyson Lewis dear icarus: this likeness scares me. where do you begin inside of me? what part of me carries your weary eyes and dripping wax wings? where do i place your desire? in between the shoulderblades? or inside the indent of the clavicle? you and i. desperate to prove our strength. weContinue reading “Icarus”
My Mother Is a Metaphor for Leaving
by Trust Tonji a boy is playing his guitarhis mum is singing to its rhythmspretending she isn’t dying soon the cloud is eating up the sunswallowing the day off our lives& we call it sunset believe me love is perishableI know this because my motheris dead so here is a body with no flesha mouth withContinue reading “My Mother Is a Metaphor for Leaving”
Convalescence
by Gavin Yuan Gao All day, I’ve been trying to discern the nature of my relationship with silence Whether it’s romance, rescue or abduction Lovers, a plausible plot Savior & saved, sure But who’d want me as their hostage? Certainly not death, who appeared before me years ago that nightas the bouncer at Gigi’s: cross-armed, big & glossy withContinue reading “Convalescence”
Planet
by Erika Walsh There was the year I kept forgetting how old I wasAnd what to do with my mouth I climb into the fridge a blue holeThe girl I kiss holds my hair in her fingers She walks behind me I don’t watch her faceShe holds my ribs in her sharp hands like musicContinue reading “Planet”
The 80s Were the 50s
by Sean Hanrahan They wanted you to believe it was the ‘50sthose ‘80s purveyors of Teen Beat, Tiger Beat, Bop, and other idol mags replete with pinups of cherubic porn stars in popped up collars posed against the ubiquitous woodsy backdrop every mustachioed photographer knew and loved, or in front of perfectly manicured lawns with the perquisite white picket fences and blurryContinue reading “The 80s Were the 50s”
IF I WROTE THIS IN THE BLACK FOREST, WOULD YOU READ IT?
by Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick First thing’s first. I want your body. I imagine a door. You are in the room making jokes about how absurd you look in a plain t-shirt. We haven’t seen each other in over a decade. I want the Danube to part and reveal our bones, delicate curves of mollusks. I want the BlackContinue reading “IF I WROTE THIS IN THE BLACK FOREST, WOULD YOU READ IT?”
Pearl St.
by Sierra Laurin Parsons Maybe it’s the caffeine,but when you speakto me, you look into my eyes and I notice. You point out the sky,say there’s a stormbrewing. At first, I think I am the storm—but when I drive home,the lightning strikes,and all I want to dois call you and say,come find me. I fall in love everyday, butnotContinue reading “Pearl St.”