Poetry
Parentification*
Lakshmi Sunder My mother asks me to wash dishes. I oblige her, only because I can listen to “Waiting Room” by Phoebe Bridgers. But it doesn’t end up playing, goes instead to some song about December. It’s already January. My last year of childhood has slipped down the drain. The water remains cold this month.… Read More Parentification*
Heirloom Recipe
Eric Pak 1. Visit the market past the bamboo stalks where azaleas cling to thin air and swindlers grift the crowd. 2. Among the distant chatters and leaking floors, pick out the Napa from the vendor with calloused hands. 3. When you reach home, wash the Napa with water, careful not to… Read More Heirloom Recipe
Mama and Papa
Cydney Hope Brown Mama and Papa Inspired by the Life of Septima Poinsette Clark* My father was born a slave, you know on the Joel Poinsette plantation near Georgetown, South Carolina As a young man, he had to walk the white man’s children to school every morning They learned to read but he could barely… Read More Mama and Papa
An Aegean Prayer
Eric Pak An Aegean Prayer After Ocean Vuong and Lydia Wei I celebrate my tenth birthday by shuffling towards my father’s body planted in the sand. Appa do you remember me? … Read More An Aegean Prayer
Preemptive Grieving
for Nonna Maggie Munday Odom We stand at the window and watch the neighborhood go by. The petunias you planted perch on the sill and frame our view, a postcard of a North Carolina spring. It is late morning and our gentle hands embrace our lukewarm coffee cups. We wake up slowly and the world… Read More Preemptive Grieving
Wilting Meadows
Eric Pak Mama, take me back to the time when your hair still rooted from your scalp. Before pain dug its teeth into your chest and your groans filled midnight. Remember our hikes Mama by the rolling meadows in Skagit where you would finger the soft glow of the lilacs, letting pollen trickle down your… Read More Wilting Meadows
Enoch Sees the Light in His Final Testimony
Elijah Elvin Dear Son, Elijah Jordan will be your name, It symbolizes the divine strength that I hope never leaves you. Boy, your heart won’t ever grow dark when it comes to feeling love ‘cuz Lucy’s gonna always spoil you with a nourishing light. She’s a good woman, so follow her words closely, even when… Read More Enoch Sees the Light in His Final Testimony
and on that day
Atarah Israel inspired by Mary Ruefle’s Kiss of the Sun and on that day/when the blood orange envelopes those milky clouds/and we all turn our heads in shame/remembering our unravelings/ancestors’ toes steeped in midnight soil/soil almost as dark as them/we will unremember and become/that is to say/unfurl our suns into themselves/until they become something else… Read More and on that day
Exits
Ryan Morton There’s a doorway. You know it’s the last time. Standing next to family, For-sale sign Long-stabbed. Brave faces everyone, Try to smile. Show some teeth. Seal the garage You once dreamt of Filling with fumes. Draw in a deep breath, Take it all: How the apple tree has not known New fruit for… Read More Exits
Swimming in Lake Michigan
Elysia Lopez The winter sunlight dimples silky waves, Its polka dots of white on satin blue. I wear the glittered garment, let it save My mind for muted hums and thoughts anew. The sky begins at earth’s horizon line, Or at my steadfast lips, my breath a cloud – It’s one, the sky and sea… Read More Swimming in Lake Michigan
