The Sweet Release

Photo by Greta Unetich By Greta Unetich (Title after Iain S. Thomas’s poem The Sweet Release) I am so tired I start to doze off, my head on your living room floor next to a pile of Scrabble tiles, curled up like a cat On an ottoman. I am so tired that the bath towel…… Continue reading The Sweet Release

home, unaccompanied

Photo by Rosie Lopolito By Rosie Lopolito Home, Unaccompanied After Monica Youn Gravedigger’s clothes should be splatteredwith cemeteries’ grey-green soil to signal loyalty to the dead, and likewisethis gangrene jumpsuit needs a shroud, dusty embrace from a dryad, blossominginto decay. Cover me, clay crackles, unweighted, unscented, and freefrom the miasma of mud out here— this…… Continue reading home, unaccompanied

What Do I Do?

Photo by Tracy Fuentes By Madison Kleinrock-Andrews “I’ve got a lot to live without. / I’m never gonna meet / what could’ve been, / would’ve been, / what should’ve been you.”  —Taylor Swift, “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” You were my first love (I guess I’ll only be talking about you in the past tense…… Continue reading What Do I Do?

Summer of ’22

Photo by Greta Unetich By Greta Unetich I have the route memorized now— Kennedy to 96A to 138, past Interlaken and Trumansburg to 89, straight into Ithaca. Cayuga Lake stamped on my wrist forever, gripping the steering wheel through golden fields and shining water, bright behind me in my rearview mirror. Behind me, gone is…… Continue reading Summer of ’22

uninhabited

Photo by Carolin Weiss By Carolin Weiss 长沙 2019  so touch deprived that I am thinking about cold nights that should have gotten snow. and crowded  alleyways, old buildings, a hand on my waist creep back into my thoughts. happiness must have  looked like that. and I quite remember feeling so lost that my heart…… Continue reading uninhabited

betta fish

Photo by Angie Shenouda By Angie Shenouda when i was 7 my dad brought home a little blue friend who floated inside a cup no bigger than my palm. he was angelic, a wave of delicate indigo dancing around his body. he hovered, eyes dull, the once colorful world warped and blurry behind a thin…… Continue reading betta fish

With Every Snuggle

Photo by Charlene Gonzales By Charlene Gonzales With every snuggle,You are always there.When I wiped my tears on your sleeves, You never let me go. With every snuggle,I will always be your little girl.I will be in your arms no matter how old I am. I am lucky to be your daughter,With every stitch,I will…… Continue reading With Every Snuggle

A Perfect Space

Photo by Kleigh Balugo By Maegan Smith I’ll shove my life in a box,And close my eyes.Stay warm, dry.Let it hang, In the air. A little box,Where stars glow but don’t burn,Voices ride the blades of a fan,Oh, how I yearned For air. No longer will footstepsBreak my night,Or will the soundOf paper give way…… Continue reading A Perfect Space

hot chocolate

Photo by Kleigh Balugo By Ryland McGinniss i tried so hard to curate myself a foolproof collection of sweatersones in different sizes, because you fluctuated in levels of denialand i think you found peace in the fact that you could treat my identities like try-onsones that i convince myself are out of stylefor whatever list…… Continue reading hot chocolate