Angry Black Woman Fejiro Okifo __________ I’ve been called a lot of thingsangry is one of themloudbut you don’t really hear medo youwhy is it my laughtersteals your joymy tearsquench your thirstmy smilemakes you weakyou hate to seemy shoulders evenyou stamp me into the groundAnd Still I Risethat would make…
Read MoreGods Themselves Brittany Bostic __________ When did my body become something to fear? Was it when the melanocytes crackled alive and painted my skin Blackas fireworks Pollock night skies? Was it zygotic, this thing that built me fearsome? Chromosomal cataclysm, one X unto X in my cellslike cars ruptured into…
Read MoreJustice Effigy Deanna Be __________ Older statues of Lady Justice depict herwithout a blindfold. Originally,the blindfold was satire,portraying Justice blind to inequitiesbefore her. Her eyes were bound in irony.Alas sarcasm, so frequently a refuge,fails to hold its shape and changesat the whim of the beholder.Lady Justice with her eyes boundis…
Read MoreBlack History Month, Feb ’25 Editor: Vallie Lynn Watson Managing Editor: Karris Rae Associate Editor: Taryn White Assistant Editors: Robbie Hess, Leah Joseph, Jade Turner, Meilyn Woods Interns: Ta’Mya Davis, Elaine Schroeder Malina Catlett, “Untitled” Letter from the Editor by Vallie Lynn Watson Letter from the Guest Editor by Meilyn…
Read Moreyour blink-blink-blink Lindsey Warren __________ __________ Lindsey Warren is a Delaware native. She received her MFA from Cornell University, and her three collections (Unfinished Child, Archangel & the Overlooked, and Sentence, Forest) were published by Spuyten Duyvil. She has had several poem collages published in various journals, including Fugue, Miracle…
Read MoreWritten Down Sam Rasnake __________ “My happiness is a documented fact in themind of God.”– Jericho Brown Everything slips fromme as though I were infreefall – I’m reaching upbut there’s nothing there to hold – and then I thinkmaybe I’m being held andit’s the world that’s fallingaway from me –…
Read MoreBut I am Just a Poet Rebecca Dietrich __________ If I were an artist,I’d capture you in a regal pose,adorned in Tyrian purple,edged in gold.A crown of rubies upon your brow,to echo the shade of my lips,when they leave their mark upon your skin.Or perhaps,like a reincarnate of Picasso,your testicles…
Read MoreDismissed Bart Edelman __________ You say you’re sorry;It won’t happen again.Attempt a feeble apology,Showing a bit of remorse.Yet I’m not asking for anything,Foolishly deceiving me again.That ticket’s been punchedFar too many timesTo think admission is possible.No, what I have in mindDoesn’t really concern you.Rest assured, you’re dismissed.Expelled from a schoolI…
Read MoreLet It Rain, London Workers, & Eyes Edward Lees __________ Let It Rain I was the only person in my confirmation classnot to go through with it.I had to talk to the pastor,tell him how I wasn’t sure I believedthe words I was supposed to say.I think it was mostly…
Read MorePetrichor & Under a sheepskin coat Anna Idelevich __________ Petrichor The earthy smell inherited by ancestorsfrom actinobacteria geosmin,aerosol felt by my eggs,is not indifferent to your artillery salt.It is hypocritical to claim that our love is a series film,a game of incredible scale of galactic empires,perfumery shops with worn-out labels,you…
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