Category Archives: Poetry

Poem by Jacob Jing sunday: the apples I bought for us  have rotted. in apology, I chop them into squashy halves, leave them where the light can smooth over their soft skins. in the glisten of the fruit’s  sandy, slick-softened muscle, I imagine a field of roses erupting over where the knife ran it through.Continue reading “I see an apple”

Poetry by Afra Ahmad I hate that I am kind. I get entangled every yearin a new game of a new hunter.People weave dulcet talesto lure me into their companionshipfor they know I am famished, so famishedthat I keep scouring for scraps of kindness:a smile, a phrase crammed with sweetness,an act of courage;more than enoughtoContinue reading “Entangled”

Poetry by Joanna Deng you said you were a disease, so you ate the oranges welaced into your veinson that rotting mattresswith its pudding pulled your flesh-etched eyes macerated above the makeshift hospital gown we cut from a linen sheet. you told me once that you hated goodbyesbecause they were like periods,and you preferred commas,Continue reading “[ START, STOP. ]”

Poem by Jacob Jing I swear this is not a poem about my last quiz grade or my calculus lecture. I swear I will not think about my five assignments due or my college applications. I swear. Yesterday, in counseling, I said I was doing better. That I’ve been making myself think only of beautifulContinue reading “jan 26th resolutions”

Poem by Varrick Kwang Was it worth it: Five years of hard trainingFive hours per sessionWith all the sweat dropped per lessonGetting stronger is the reason. Two years of my life,Fighting under the hot sun in a burning uniform.All for the pay of peanuts The bank is brokenThe Wallet has holes in itAnd for what?JustContinue reading “Was It Worth It?”

Poem by Paris LeClaire I said, in vain, of course, butAlready I had mispelled the titleAnd the word “misspelled” and allI can think to write is the quietWord “ephemeral.” There is no greater loss than thatOf the language through which weBreathe, except, perhaps, for the dirt stainCreeping up on the clean white of mySandals. Perhaps.Continue reading “MAYBE THIS WILL BE BETTER THAN THE LAST”

Poem by Paris LeClaire I am lying sideways on a momentI will feel, feel, feel until the dark slug slidingBetween my trachea and my esophagusIsn’t a slug but a waterCreature—or maybe some otherScaled, amphibious thing. Maybe.I’m not sure where I’ve seen it (I know I have):Not everything feels like something else.

Poem by Varrick Kwang Fluffy Boy Cute fluffy boyPlaying with yarn of a toyAs your clean white hair rustle with the windAs you bear brown little markings look like a marshmallow. Cute Fluffy boyHow carefree must you beTo sleep in the middle of the corridor where the humans walk.To loaf with such easeTo sploot withContinue reading “Fluffy Affections”

reposing on an undusted wood boardthat distinct smell aroundgrowing on me,my surface—slantedon the previous one’shandsome (barring magnetic),spare font intro,sedate and composed countenanceand a few violets for welcomeinto my world.if only you pick me, flip over my layersyou’ll know I have a storya web of technicolour memoriesa map of a fascinating journeyentwined with those of others,aContinue reading “self-portrait as a book”

I had to abolish you,How long would you grapple?Delighted to breakthrough,Enslaved, daily apple. Disgraceful fragility.Never imagined treacheryOf bitter inefficiency,And a myriad sisters left to memory. Serenity, dishonest,Instituted disciples of anger.Never again, you promised.Silence, refreshing candor. Vestiges of the past,Afflict my insides, mutinous.Hysterical sin, vastRecital of an ode to my uterus.