It’s the talons stabbed and spread through the nervous system that keep the mouse twitching and give it the performance of life. A boy reads the forest floor: A bouquet. A pitying. He reads the horizon: an unkindness.
Read moreBANANAS by CORY ASHLEY
GOOD HAIR by JASMINE COMBS
Parts of me are burning in dad’s ashtray. Tuffs of coiled hair engulfed in flame. Clink of hot-comb against stove. Crackle of fire against pomade. The house is smoky with the burning of my hair the flattening into submission the taming of the wild black the Saturday ritual.
Read moreENBY by CORY ASHLEY
SEE ME by CORY ASHLEY
ATHEIST by MICHAEL COUNTER
he was my religion where no god could exist laid slain in his spirit each time his hands pray upon me words baptized in tongues tithed offered in remembrance of we
Read moreMY MOTHER by KATHLEEN RADIGAN
Met my father in summer at some wedding. She won’t say if they kissed or felt clairvoyant twinges during Vows.
Read moreHOW IT FEELS TO BE A GAY BOY by ERIC CLINE
insert a metaphor about paper cranes, their wings open wide as their creases can go before ripping and pulp beaks breach the earth.
Read moreLETTER TO MARYAM by MILLIE GUILLE
I was staring at a map when the men came, measuring the width of Calcutta with a thumb as they told me to stand and led me away. The blindfold smelt of cardamom and I remembered my mother’s shoe-size and the warmth of her body […]
Read moreBORROWERS by KATHLEEN RADIGAN
Since my mother lives inside me, I bake a lemon cake and frost it with a blunt knife. In weeks of frizz and fat rattles I knew her as my Other. We’re two people, she said. Start hardening. In autumn she taught me to use a shower. Hot bullets over her breasts. Our bathing suits […]
Read moreDISSOCIATION AS TIME TRAVEL by FISAYO ADEYEYE
Rolling coins & cat eye marbles An excess of gold Do not be afraid: of how the body lingers after light, how your teeth ache in the cold The soft burn of your muscles pulling away from one another The deck loses suspension & our knuckles their suspense The tissue paper. Your pupil’s blood- orange […]
Read moreFROM THE TREE by MJ SANTIAGO
When will I be rich enough to visit Mexico again? Maybe I should have stayed poor so I wouldn’t have to hear about your trip to India between your second and third years of college and how good the mangoes were I would rather claw my own ear drums out than hear you say I […]
Read moreHOMEWARD by MJ SANTIAGO
The cat disappeared for two weeks and came back with one less ear: I was the cat. When someone bumps into me on the subway I want to yell, I came from the swamp, and emerged cleanly, ready with an extra row of teeth.
Read moreBIRTHRIGHTS by KYRA WOLFF
In Minnesota during the silver season she married a frozen swimming pool masquerading as a Great Lake.
Read morePRETAS by HALEY CLAPP
Years and years and you– my shrivel-handed, my ever-praying buddha monk, seek samma ditthi, tasked with pulling splinters from a mother’s memories.
Read moreFEATURED ARTIST: JO YEH
When we saw Jo Yeh‘s work in Paper Darts, we knew we had to have her. Her artwork is stunning, the imagery fresh and a spin away from collage as the unexpected is linked and bound to produce bright, undeniable beauty. The women in her work are living their lives and happen to be captured […]
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VAGABOND CITY 