I A swan is eating another swan.It is not beautiful.It is hideous, and bloody, and terrifying. It is also beautiful. II Your mother goes to the doctor and they finda shadow on her lung. When they open her up, insideher lung is a blossomed calendula. When the doctors askhow it got there she saysshe inhaled it […]
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I’ve become adept at shepherdingheartbreak to minute areas of the body,treating the lesions with smoothing iron and ice in equal measure. I’m an imperfect mechanism,an unskilled plough hand—my pastures razed, my stained bones fallow. I wish to beat my armsinto an instrument more useful to a worldthat’s full and waitingwith cocked hammers. The mystery in my body is spoiling in this climate: […]
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after Sandra Cisneros, in a nutshell, i have returned to you like the way death returns when one gets depressed. grief has unlit everything in me back & forth, but i am jealous of the veinsthat form smiles on my face. Yeshua is jealous of me, i can do what he can’t do of me. hallowed be […]
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I wanted to like you. I like how you say my name, your tongue on the root of your mouth instead of the roof of it like everyone else does, vowels working off your jaw like pepper drops staining snow. I like how you look at me when you speak, your eyes always looking forward […]
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I discovered Ninn Salaün’s work when a painting of a sky at dusk all in pink and purple hues popped up on my Twitter feed. The picture came from Ninn’s account Reports From Unknown Places, on which she has been posting a picture of the sky with a caption explaining the meteorological events depicted everyday […]
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T.J. Sandella beseeches us all to consider the way we live our lives in his debut poetry collection, “Ways to Beg.” He examines in awe how far we will go and what we will accomplish in the name of self-discovery, and in the hope of defining home. This collection opens with a poem about arrival, […]
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Andrea Abi-Karam’s VILLAINY, out from Nightboat Books, is an energizing second collection. Building off of the signature style and questions raised by their debut EXTRATANSMISSION, this book weaves a whole new grain of vulnerability and introspection through its call. Their debut was invested in the critique of US military violence, of surveillance, via the performative […]
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on earth, golden silk orb-weavers build asymmetrical webs, with the hub—or center—positioned towards the upper edge. & it is here that they sit & wait, so that when theirprey does arrive, they might use gravity to pounce & kill, quickly. in 2011, these spiderswere sent to space. & scientists aboard the International Space Station discovered […]
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We’re thrilled to announce our nominees for the 2021 Best of the Net anthology: Creative Nonfiction: In Bermuda … by Stephen Foster Smith Homegrown by Iris Yu Poetry Fentanyl by Zachary Bond Making Pumpkin Pie in July with You by Stephanie Choi Doxycycline by Rob Colgate AN INTERNET QUIZ by Lucas Peel Witness by Samia Saliba They by Joanna C. Valente
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Kissing Dynamite Poetry Microchapbook Series: “Kissing Dynamite seeks poetry microchap manuscripts for print publication in 2022. We’re happy to consider a diverse range of poetic styles and themes, so send us work that represents you! We are committed to publishing two titles from this round of submissions and will publish more if finances at the […]
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We have a new opening for two volunteer positions: Editor-in-Chief and Art Editor. See below for application details. Please note: all staff positions are volunteer and are thus unpaid. All positions are also virtual/remote. Editor-in-Chief (Posted August 23, applications due September 30)The Editor-in-Chief will begin work with VC in October/November following the publication of Issue […]
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VAGABOND CITY 