by Geer Austin You moved to another state and I roamed from man to man to woman from Mulberry Street to West Street to alphabet streets, past sex workers on Delancey, where cars rattled and bumped toward Williamsburg, shaking my bones while viruses and parasites and bacteria flirted with my cells. And what I heard
by Juliet Cook and j/j hastain Within one week, three nose rings flew out of my nose, hit the floor and quickly dispersed. A month later one of them submerged from the carpeting and sky rocketed up to the ceiling like a tiny UFO. It wanted my nose to join it. Next thing I knew
by Ian Macks The Power Ranking looked good on paper because we believed too much in our teams The losses from this parlay served as my guiding light to stop living a panic attack life fueled by tempting decisions The memories linger in me like Kyle Rittenhouse on the stand Sam Darnold of a man
by Ian Macks To protect our culture from racial biases and transgressions To emasculating cis-het black men and teaching them a lesson To eschewing accountability via manifestation and platitudes To manipulate through tarot readings and strike down religious beatitudes “Big Al” “G-Unit” Team Ally! Taking anti-‘s at the speed of light The “bad bitches” at
by Madeleine Beckman At the Cézanne exhibit – I cried looking at his drawings, reading Cézanne drew every day. He made pencil and paper breathe the way you could – while waiting for me to emerge from ballet class quickly sketching on a restaurant napkin. Some of Cézanne’s work in the exhibit wasn’t good, he
by Chelsea Fanning : the hole in your tooth your tongue keeps probing. : the break in the dust from a mislaid book. : the chair depression where the cat always napped. : the condensation ring on the bedside table. : the steady thrum of a record needle after the last track. : the crushed
by Marjorie Maddox Give me the pattern of pucker clinging so unsweetly to each cock- tail glass of seductive deceit cracked beside a creased napkin briefly branded with blots of Cruel Ruby— no ambivalent Rorschach of lips but this identical XOs match beside a pale corpse with cheeks tattooed so beautifully with the indelible smack
by Kristie L. Williams I asked you to use flyer miles before I am locked in the circumstance of my body betrayed by disabled limbs whose only function is to subtract autonomy by degrees you suggest we facetime while I count random variants on crooked fingers terrified by how my freedoms will be divided through
by Guillermo Filice Castro let your aunt amble in looking as she did in her 50’s let her return to the front patio of the house she never owned but loved let her talk about past holidays tables filled with cider and panettone let her say nothing as you watch her bob cut reach stillness
by David B. Prather I am my father’s anger, his hands at my throat, his fingers a ring of flames around my neck. The Ohio River catches fire, a glaze of industrial chemicals raging through the night, witch’s hair, devil’s tongue. The hottest fire I know burns in the wood stove. Embers fall and scorch