ROSS KILPATRICK
Honecker gave the order / To shoot on the inner wall / So comrades died, piled up / Under the American red and whites / Of western Coca-Cola signs // But before the BDR Richter, / Honekcer pleaded / ohne juristische oder / moralische Schuld / For humane end / And to Chile he fled…Continue Reading Staat und Mauer
Category: Poetry
Stop and Stare
QUINCY SMITH
Roads that lead nowhere / Cracked pavement snaps open under my toes // The trees bark at me / The leaves are still falling // My breath is shallow / A whisper // People cross paths / The skin on their arms only separated by pain…Continue Reading Stop and Stare
It Will Pass?
A’CORA HICKSON
There’s a difference / Between being alone and being lonely / You can crave to be alone / Crave to be still / In the room / In the space / In the world / But being lonely hits you like a speck of dust / Falling on your arm / It sits and waits on the ledge / Praying / Planning / Its next attack / It goes unnoticed / In the room / In the space / In the world…Continue Reading It Will Pass?
Dear Shanghai | 亲爱的上海
ANNA ZHOU
Draped in the Moon Goddess’ waning light, / I write secret love letters: / to a motherland I’ve never felt the right to know / to warm bowls of bean curd flowers and soy milk, / so white and weightless and pure / I imagine Chang’e herself adorned in flowing robes / of rich jade amongst the stars….Continue Reading Dear Shanghai | 亲爱的上海
In Focus
TARA ALAHAKOON
I adapted to life out of focus. // My world was an impressionist painting: earthy hues blended the landscape as swaths / of grey streaked across the sky. // Silouettes danced in and out, / their edges fuzzy. // Like an artist, I played with light….Continue Reading In Focus
Though Untrue
ROSS KILPATRICK
Though rivers make untrue / that Land is borderless / (we aren’t mermaids / to intermingle with the sea) / I wish I were / a freshwater octopus, / all kisses and soft touches, / For bones are such a burden / to us, the nationless / and lying in the depths / letting little death sing / there’d be no shame…Continue Reading Though Untrue
Reunion
TAPTI SEN
Please come sit next to me- / I want to lay my head in your lap and / whisper about the boy you love / as you braid flowers in my hair. Once, / I knew you like I knew myself, and / now, I wonder if history is all we / have left….Continue Reading Reunion
Fall Relapse
ZOE ALARCON
As the leaves succumb to a coral shade / You’re reminded of your own freshness / How with each summer comes as naturally a deep renewal / A solidifying of insights / But its fragile underpinnings are also suddenly more visible / And the trees’ tactless, rapid shedding / rekindle your sympathy for your own dead leaves…Continue Reading Fall Relapse
i am what you don’t see
A’CORA HICKSON
insignificance. you would say. little you feel. / passing is what i feel. but in reality i am the one stuck. // breezing past like a leaf caught in the wind. / i am the tree. // the motion of the picture. / i am that one, still shot….Continue Reading i am what you don’t see
Absences in Personal Narrative
KALIDAS SHANTI
Maybe I should reconsider my position / on the camera. Maybe it is worth / that last smile inside the apartment, / the room that I gave up on (the one / with bullet holes but in which I could never / find the bullets), the vacuous spider…Continue Reading Absences in Personal Narrative
If I Let It Happen
QUINCY SMITH
The inside of my palms are dirty / From the concrete blocks I sat on // The concrete was pressing against my palm / Creating a print in shape of pebbles // I look down and see the shape this concrete drew on my hand / My fists clench and unclench // Almost as if its searching for feeling / Almost as if i’m not feeling and I need to move to feel…Continue Reading If I Let It Happen
Food For Thought On Even Days
KALIDAS SHANTI
McDonald’s pancakes sink / the only place to eat / this breakfast before the 6 am bus / this dinner once it drops you off late / never for you, for them on odd days / who live under your roof? / Your son in the Navy to go sea / where you only dream of / maybe you’d call that attachment…Continue Reading Food For Thought On Even Days
Captcha: A Villanelle
ROSS KILPATRICK
You’re nothing but a simple minded bot. / And before algorithmic gods give true accounts / Performing tasks without our feeble minds, so fraught // Click on all the hydrants, or sinners will be caught / And captcha will proudly announce / You’re nothing but a simple minded bot….Continue Reading Captcha: A Villanelle
A Brief Odyssey of Grief
ZOE AKOTO
It’s something like six a.m. when I roll downstairs / and you’re already there, making coffee. // We manage smiles, faint good mornings / pre-caffeine triumphs, even on a good week, / and I slip past you, put on the tea kettle / and settle in at the end of the counter. / It’ll take longer than it should. / I still fill the kettle for two cups, / less on instinct now and more / in defiance / and I wonder when I’ll quit that….Continue Reading A Brief Odyssey of Grief
Ecology of a Dark City
SPENCER WILLIAMS
I, Spencer Williams, hereby pledge I will return to this city. / I will watch the gray pavement dark with rain,
the steaming carts pushed by the street vendors / with ripped pantsuits and crooked smiles….Continue Reading Ecology of a Dark City
Ecology of a Beach House Love
SPENCER WILLIAMS
kind sun and gentle light / flutters rosy fingers behind pale curtains / and dips over your shoulders to settle and sleep. / at our feet the dog / siiiighs / and his lazy head drifts / upward…Continue Reading Ecology of a Beach House Love
Conversations with my TikTok Therapist
CAROLINA CORDON
Hi there. I didn’t see you. // Now that we’re here together, let’s take a deep breath. / Close your eyes. And // Inhale. Feel your lungs expand. Your muscles grow. Energy bubbling inside you. // Swirling. Swirling….Continue Reading Conversations with my TikTok Therapist
Myth of the Garden
SARA ATTIA
You have woken up for the first or last time in your life. A. Apple Tree or Mountainside River? / If apple tree, go to B. If River, go to E. …Continue Reading Myth of the Garden