Some people don’t visit their high schools until the reunion, which makes everyone fearful of if they changed for the better or for the worst. Some folks don’t visit until they are back home and just stop by to remember that that place doesn’t just exist in their dreams. For a moment in time, it … Read moreWhen A Memory Becomes A Stranger by Mayana Nell
Instagram: mamaladysmix Images: First row, left to right “For the Love of Gospel,” “Healing from All Directions,” and “Blissed” Second row, left to right “Fragrant Dreams,” “Sea Me,” and “Traveler” Third row, left to right “Fertile Quietude,” “The Slow Soften,” “Love’s Layers” Fourth row, left to right “Unleash Your Spirit,” and “Growing Pains” About the … Read moreArtwork by Jamae Tasker
We fell asleep in a bush the other day It sounds unpleasant but it was just what we needed You see we were all just trying to escape the things we weren’t ready to face yet Laying under the dome of the branches watching the sunrise through the leaves gave all three of us hope … Read moreWait for the Sun by Devon Hulick
Instagram: @ErastoArtsFacebook: @ErastoArtsWebsite: www.ErastoArts.com Images: left column, top to bottom “Saltwater Kid” and “I Am” right column, top to bottom “Soul on Ice,” “Eyes of a child,” “We’ve Always Mattered,” and “Father, Father” About the Artist Born in Reading, Pennsylvania and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Erasto Curtis Matthews moved to the Washington DC area … Read moreArtwork by Erasto Matthews
Some names escape me, here one day, gone the next. “Magnolia” disappears, an ancient genus, magnolia, but I forget the word— a pearl lost in murky waters despite all my groping in the mud. (Ah, the mud. Might a pure lotus rise from this ooze?) Without warning, the word returns, big and bright as a … Read moreFugitive Flower Names by Alan Swope
Illustration by iggdeh Social media as performance art: ‘expressions of social nonconformity through the merging of art and life’ Humans have been engaging in performance as a form of communication for millenia. But the integration of performance and art or ‘Performance Art’, began with Italian Futurists. They believed that “performance is the only way to … Read moreSocial Media As Performance Art: ‘Expressions of Social Nonconformity Through the Merging of Art and Life’ by Trinity Townsend
Filled with pained accomplishment. “Por fin, lo logramos.” “We made it.” “Este sacrificio lo hicimos para ti…” And we made it because you made it. We made it past -and despite the lecciones machistas de tu padre. We made it past the gentle beatings de cucharas, cinturones, and electrical wire. (And the brutal beatings of … Read moreThe New American Gothic by Mario Felix
I stare out the window of my second floor apartment, feel such an insignificant and nebulous thing. Trapped in blackness, my passions garble and wilt. Inside the glass, reflections crack open its own cynical chant. Screw you, girl. Eye lids red and swollen, I can’t leave even if I wanted to. I’m infected, have no … Read moreBare Bulbs and Salty Tears by Juanita Rey
Every time you place your hope in the upper shelf of the closet, there will be a crash. They say a metal must break to avoid death so you will let your heart bare open until it begins to bleed, only to convince you hearts don’t shatter like a ceiling hearts, they ooze out a … Read moreHopes I Thought I Threw Away by Anushka Srivastava
When Brown Dad dies, I will have debt because he spent his life accumulating it never knowing how to pay it back. The degrees I have earned were paid for with his money because “Lolo paid for mine. This is how I pay him back.” The Rolex on my wrist was his hand-me-down because he … Read moreRunning a Tab by Christian Hanz Lozada