The Reality of Our Times
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer There are words we will never hear. We are okay with that. Instead of listening, we pose for pictures that just include us. A foggy chill whips through the foreground. Trees rustle in the back. There is enough alcohol to serve an entire wedding in this home. We…
self portrait as a humid night
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer This is a summer poem. Nothing else but sun and barbecued hot dogs. Charred from not paying attention and too much liquid courage. It is sunburn and peeling skin days after, the flakes sticking to the old couch that you can’t replace. I wonder how each year is…
self portrait as a vague memory
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer I feel my head sink into my pillow and I am immediately on a train to Paris. My mother isn’t answering her phone and I just missed my stop. Next stop: nowhere. I can’t catch my breath and people are laughing all around me – ringing in my…
My Impossible Mourning
Photo by Izzy Bliss By Sydney Shaffer This time of year I think about Emily Dickinson. She is always on my mind when the flowers beside my home begin to bloom. The cherry blossom trees I pass on the way to the grocery store remind me of her happiness. She would love to breathe the…
discovery (for me)
Photo by Kleigh Balugo By Sydney Shaffer I have turned the right way. I still yearn for the early morning chill. I swear there is nothing and no one else when I am under a fort of fuzzy blankets. Glowing from my rainbow fairy lights reflection that hangs above my twin size bed. I have…
The Lust Playlist
Desire fuels passion. Lust is the passionate yearning for something or someone. Admittedly, we often lust over the wrong things. No matter what you’re lusting over, here are songs handpicked by us about that all too familiar feeling. Listen to the playlist here Jacquelyn Rodriguez “From Eden” by Hozier If there’s any artist that writes…
escapism
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer Alone in a cabin I imagine the snow pouring itself into the front door. Trapped inside with bottles of wine, this will be forever yet I never want to leave. My cat curled up at my feet snowflakes are swirling outside the window. I’ll hide for as long…
A mini series of melodramatic villanelles
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer space exploration So I fall into continents and cars I stretch miles to the moon You you you are my bright blue star This trip to magic is by far the faint echo of my June swoon falling into continents and cars I want to write myself into…
Emily Dickinson: Through a Queer Lens
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer Taylor Swift’s version of the Emily and Sue love story As a lesbian poet, I have always looked up to and loved Emily Dickinson. In my high school English class we read “Because I could not stop for Death” by Dickinson. I remember that moment as feeling my…
Bloodline/Just So Pretty
Photo by Sydney Shaffer By Sydney Shaffer bloodline Ⅰ. Cold skin, too stubborn to wear our jackets outside even on Christmas Day. My mustard sweater keeps me warm as different types of smoke dances around us. Ⅱ. Fingers stinky from the beer spills. She responsibly orders us iced water. Dancing to music that dates both…
Kindergarten 