Three Poems – Zach Beach
Praise the Light of Late October So soon we have reached the cusp of October where we trade in our apples and peonies for pumpkins and sweet alyssum. The outstretched arms of the United States winter are already blanketed in white frost, the ground hardening like a pot in the kiln. The light mahogany fur […]
Three Poems – Tares Oburumu
essay on boat in the oval of St. John’s Chapel. in the dome of his visions; in the form of ship or skew, the times come. the virgins have been praying for us before birth. my sister is one of such flowers growing hard, to avoid the common bruise, to reach sunlight. red candles to […]
Two Poems – Ron Riekki
My Roommate Translated during Just Cause—lying on his bed, the darkness, telling me he had to talk, and I said to talk then and the crickets were gone and the moon was gone and the night was ready to harm every- thing in sight—and he told me how hard it is to translate screams, that […]
Three Poems – Omodero David
Gratitude for What we have become After Sanam Sheriff For time & space whittled down to water beneath our tender feet shaped into a paddling mechanism of movement and our heartbeats throbbing against the waters rippling us forward, for age thickening our plumage, I am grateful Brother, I opened my eyes to the light of […]
The Sharp Weight of Inheritance – Nnadi Samuel
“I do not know if hurt is my birthright”— Jason B. Crawford knuckle withholds an English suffering, clenched in fierce strain. my unsheathed hands, hurled spacelike, knifing a worship. there are times my loin becomes a violation of religion: object to be cast out. times agony was in vogue. here, my rib aligns to a […]
Two Poems – Olumide Manuel
20.10.20 there are no rules except those against protests. the silence came for us before the bullets. every wound devours itself. dark green molds in the lips culturing a system of crows & bloodstream. I am crying crystal with the dreams of my father’s children that remained ghosts. i sew the salt into this. the […]
Two Poems – Bruce McRae
Cry Timber The arborist has gone quite mad. For every tree felled another woodland grows. He saws and saws, and there is no end to his sawing. The mills are heavy with his lumber, an unholy racket following him throughout his days. In the arborist’s thumb is a splinter of spruce or pine or arbutus […]
Three Poems – Chisom Okafor
A piercing through the dark In the face of darkness, this secluded space is a pathology likewise to live alone in it. My heart keeps failing in bits, as the voice from the evening news, crisp as snowflakes, announces that twitter has just been banned in my country. It’s close to bedtime, and my lover […]
Two Poems – Roseline Anya Okorie
Roots Love grows in the evening Dies at dawn There is not enough prophecy about hearts How it can become vapor Fighting for space in the sky There are many kinds of light but the one in this poem has the color of A hole & takes over the night If you take away the […]
Barren – Maura Way
Tonight, eat nuts, watermelon, and pomegranate with me. I want to feel them on the tongue of the longest day. I will read Hafez to find out what will become of me. It is more beautiful than making plans and always being disappointed. How do we seek the way which leads to our wishes? […]