Volume 5

August 2022 - November 2022

Trusting you was leaping
into a sky full of nothing and I am
still waiting to land

Rachel Tanner, Urogynecology

Rachel Tanner

Urogynecology

 

the muscle memory remembers the risk
that is the weight of your body.

Ireisha Anindya, having a body in this economy & society & culture is ridiculous

Ireisha Anindya

having a body in this economy & society & culture is ridiculous

 

An artwork that depicts an Afro-indigenous Siren woman, named Xena, holding the number, “41,” in her palms, showing it off like a gift to the viewer. Xena has pearly light blue hair in tight curls tied back in a poofy afro, with an equally poofy bang hanging over her forehead, with two long pearly light blue locs framing her face. Her eyelashes match her hair color. Her eyes are sapphire jewels with cyan lighting. Her big nose, a flattering feature of her face, plump lips, with two elongated fangs sticking out from her upper lip. Her skin with cool blue undertones, speckled with spots that change color with every emotion; depicted however, the spots are a pale translucent white. Her pear shaped squishy frame is adorned with a green crop top and a pink flower indigenous to where she lives, and a orange and red wrap under her hanging belly. The background is a mix of blue, white, and cyan, water waves, to depict she is from a water based location, signed with an owl rabbit glyph, and the artists fancy signature of their name, Sam Wise.

Sam Wise, Hall of Fame

Sam Wise

Hall of Fame

 

Whispers from gentle lovers
Why do you cry when I touch you?
Plague me.

Olly Nze, I Do Not Feel Like a Survivor

Olly Nze

I Do Not Feel Like a Survivor

 

Be sweet. be glass, be should - not want,
you praise-joked to us

Laura Arciniega, Third Ghazal for the Men Who Fired Me When I Was Suicidal

Laura Arciniega

Third Ghazal for the Men Who Fired Me When I Was Suicidal

 

I'll shelter. I'll be still. I'll recover. I'll breathe.
Tendering my flesh, at the foothills. I'll be.

Rebecca Dempsey, Touch

Rebecca Dempsey

Touch

 

Therapy is making me more "normal" says mom

Anandi Gunda, Sinking Ship

Anandi Gunda

Sinking Ship

 

white skin
interrupted constantly by slipping
jam red rising scabs

Keagan Wheat, Medicalized Transition

Keagan Wheat

Medicalized Transition

 

I have learned to navigate
by stars, by the sea, by the brilliant
points of pain in this ravaged body.

LM Cole

L.M. Cole

 

Malasia - a country; a word;
two words; a slash fitted between
my ribs, dragged down to gauge
that pretty, neat wound.

Atticus Payne, Malay / sia

Atticus Payne

Malay / sia

 

I am an endangered & ungendered thing
difference my distinguishing feature
a creature of circumstance
I love therefore I am

JP Seabright, Sex in Context

JP Seabright

Sex in Context

 

that you are / were / so fragile / when held /
by another

Sadee Bee, My Heart is a Mechanism

Sadee Bee

My Heart is a Mechanism

 

sing, then, your magnificat
your amazing
your miraculous
tilt, then, your queenly head

Katie Peckham, Heroine

Katie Peckham

Heroine

 

/ I mother/ and meaning / I puddle and push / I quit, I can't /

Frances Klein, Self Portrait as an Alphabet Book

Frances Klein

Self Portrait as an Alphabet Book

 

i will curl the hard parts of myself into the shape of her body
and fall

Jude Armstrong, confessions of a something, scared

Jude Armstrong

confessions of a something, scared

 

here is the skin that I had
on when my husband died,
here is the skin
that I wore at our wedding

Olivia Payne, Feet of Endurance

Olivia Payne

Feet of Endurance

 

I apologize to the one I was-
To the one I was becoming-

Sophie Hulet, In My Own Shadow

Sophie Hulet

In My Own Shadow

 

a body is strong enough
and soft enough to carry that body
over and through

Lauren Fulton, Ode on My Shoulders

Lauren Fulton

Ode on My Shoulders

 

Perfection can be measured
against any open mouth.

Max Gillette, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Max Gillette

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

 

it looks like
we've had a good day
and we have.
But at bedtime
(during the day too)
I notice how much
pain I am in
and I am.

Laura Lewis-Waters, Content Note: social media

Laura Lewis-Waters

Content Note: social media

 

two lines on a stick, stuffed in a drawer
and they have faded too

Cindy Hossain, Yesterday's Dreams

Cindy Hossain

Yesterday’s Dreams

 

i was born to the credit august 1996
a century after the british
took the harbour and the island

one day i'll return to her arms

Toast Wong, untitiled

Toast Wong

untitled

 


Until the day that shell can be grown,
this body's made to rent and not to own.

Sean Patrick, Sonnet for a Shell

Sean Patrick

Sonnet for a Shell

 

Against the grain of three a.m.
we turn again together
Upstream

Amy Katherine Cannon, Sleeplessness

Amy Katherine Cannon

Sleeplessness