Deep in the earth Under dirt and falsehoods We waited For our mothers For our Fathers For light We could smell rain seeping through The warmth of the sun And the stale air of time passing Just out of reach We screamed While you prayed You thanked your god for the land you live on … Read moreThe Earth Keepers By Ariel Perez
Shadows grow and wane Like radish seeds and lemon trees Like your vines exploring my skin The wind swaying along the shore I hear the stomps and the skids The boom and the crash The vibration of decay Of a beautiful facade A taste gone sour Aphids on its leaves Rot within its roots A … Read moreWhen the Waves Crash and the Candlelight Flickers by Claudio Yurdadön
Love born of amniotic fluid and blood, mixed equal parts of both. They say a baby doesn’t know itself apart from its mother, and this is true of her too. How she ached, breasts leaking, at the sound of your phantom cry. Her arms like phantom limbs, foreign til the minute you laid in them. … Read moreLove in Liquid Form by Liz Márquez
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
Marisa Vito (she/they) is a queer Californian poet who has published with Crab Fat Magazine, The Spectacle, and the Los Angeles Magazine. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in English Literature/Writing and is the Digital Content Manager for Copper Canyon Press, as well as an editor for literary magazine, … Read moreDinner Conversation
The Nats about to win the world series so we champ.Ugly with the drip like we was ever into baseball. My brother used to get free tickets from his job and takeme to games. I held a hot dog and joined every chant. watching, and screaming I began to understand thethe art of the steal. … Read more10/24/19 by Kenneth Carroll III
America, my homeland, my graveyard; my seductress, my assassin. America, who are you, and who am I to you? America, who are you, land of the free or the bourgeoisie? America, who are you, home of the brave or the slave? America, who are you, and when will you come home to me? They say … Read moreAmerica by Mia Altamuro
Call the witness to the stand;the jury wants to knowhow you hold peaches like a heartbeat,how it always tastes betterwhen it’s been plucked by your hands.(Truth: you didn’t always know how to pickthe ripest of the bunch.) Tell them how you grow your own peach treesoutside of Georgia’s borders,how you could compare the sweetness to … Read morePeachFarmsandPromises by Paula Macena
Jasmine Washington is a Black woman from Houston, Texas who works as a library program specialist and dabbles in poetry from time to time. She grew up being an avid reader and can be found with her head in a young adult book or graphic novel. Much like her journal writing, she has found poetry … Read moreLate Night Thoughts by Jasmine Washington