issue 5 // poetry
ALANA DE HINOJOSA // HOW TO SPEAK
"i imagine a crane glowing in the night / wading through the river
that separates me / from the country of my mother / & taking
flight" - How to Speak
KEVERLEE BURCHETT // THE WOMEN
// DARK MATTER
"Construe / a straightjacket, a beautiful damn quilt / of socks.
Through the eye of a needle sew / a habit no one can trust."
- The Women
DOROTHY CHAN // ODE TO PSYCHICS, HOOKERS, SHARK BONE AND FREE ICED TEA // MY FATHER IS THE SON OF A CONCUBINE
"And with this word, concubine, / I think of my father, born to a
concubine—/ not a royal one, more like a second wife / to a
grandfather I’ve only met once." - My Father is the Son of a
Concubine
KATHRYN SMITH // DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE? // REHEARSAL FOR THE APOCALYPSE // A PERMEABLE MEMBRANE IN THE MUTABLE COSMOS
"Tell me again of the lepers who learn / to shed their disastrous
skin / by eating the meat of vipers: something / transmutable in
the flesh." - A Permeable Membrane in the Mutable Cosmos
SUNNYLYNN THIBODEAUX // HELLO, IT'S ME
"How long will it take your eyes / to fix on my flaws? / your ears / to
fix on the poem / Will you be in awe of the dragonfly / heartbroken
by the sound of war?" - Hello, It's Me
ALESSANDRA NARVÁEZ-VARELA // THE COSMIC MILLIMETER
"eyes so green, a face so round, they had / to be tasted / by a man
who hugged so hard her hymen / broke, who said without / music:
'pull your pants down, Chilean princesita" - The Cosmic
Millimeter
CAROLYN GUINZIO // FIVE POEMS: OZARK CROWS
"The breath of your phantom ancestors / is hovering in the
atmosphere / it will come to rest in the grass" - The Frost
EMMA BOLDEN // BECAUSE I COULD NEITHER FORGET NOR FORGIVE // I FOUND MYSELF ON THE EDGE
"I forgave my abuser & I could not / forgive myself for forgiving
her. In every / state I traveled, carrying feather & fortress" -
Because I Could Neither Forget Nor Forgive
ADRIANNE KALFOPOULOU // POEM IN PIECES, A LOG
"You gather what’s made you / otherwise, / more than the words you
keep / losing – / lizards, sea shawl, impossible / You will be changed
anyway" - Poems in Pieces, a log
SARAH WETZEL // MY RELIGION IS THAT I LOVE YOU // MYTH STARRING MARIA CALLAS
"What was water before we called it river? / How much of it must
she drink / not to drown? To keep safe, / what song must she sing?"
- Myth Starring Maria Callas