The cage was beautiful.Bars plucked like harp strings.Stinging imprints on fingertipsSacrificed for sound. The cage embraced me.My cushions custom-made.A letter to my liberators:Conditions humane. The…
Posts published in “Literary”
Elegy for Pogačar
By NATALIE PATRONE on May 2025
For sure, I felt the call of gods on highWhile reaching forward, smiling from my teeth,I glanced out far and watched the fading sky,And left…
When Fear is Dream’s Excuse
By CORALLUS MEEKS on May 2025
Author’s Note: This poem is a translation and interpretation of “Cuando el miedo es el pretexto de los sueños” by Yanira Marimon. Fear,a trite word.The…
My heart doesn’t fit right, too large for its contentsCompacted by ribs that have nowhere to go nowBut in It’s one step from cracking–an empty…
Part 2: Blood in the Water
By THEODORE DUFRESNE on May 2025
There’s a calm after the slaughter,That no one’s left to witness.There’s blood in the waterThat the earth’s left to digest. But when the wounds run…
The “Unimportant”
By CAEDMON SETHUPATHY on May 2025
Brown chestnut falling;Catching the little glints,Those sun-kissed ridges of a long-grown shell. Passing aimlessly,Unencumbered by the passing breeze,Uncertain of direction and nonplussed by dissection. If…
Where I Won’t Die
By CAEDMON SETHUPATHY on May 2025
So long little humdrum worldThe blue dot that I seeDisappears before me Farewell little-known cherry treeFor we won’t meet againUntil final victory Goodbye baby dollI’ll…
the Cliffs
By ZADIE WANG on May 2025
The cliffs were once stoic and shoulder-broadLauded by the deep ocean below forNursing fossils in their stone armsAnd wearing time like armor. But now they…
Art
By ACE DUFRESNE on April 2025
The darkness spread slowly but surely. It enveloped every grocery store and shushed every dinner table. It blanketed the city, obscuring all notions of a…
Dissolution
By CORALLUS MEEKS on April 2025
Come down and snap my dead branches Let summer greet me in my state of amateurity And fully embrace my rebirth Descend upon our wasteland…
Dear Little Girl
By REAGAN JOHNSON on April 2025
Dear Little Girl You are as strong as a tree that survives a hurricane You are as brave as a single mother of 3 kids…
Inside
By THEODORE DUFRESNE on April 2025
Outside, a storm is brewingFrom the high open sky.Claustrophobic there, I’m choosingTo stay inside– Inside. Inside. When it hits time,I keep my chin high.But then…
Seasons of me
By EDIX on April 2025
I don’t fit in the skin I wore before. The girl in the mirror wants something more. I’ve outgrown the life I had before. Change…
Untitled
By CAMILLE TROST on April 2025
you don’t need to change. don’t close your mouth, don’tbe softer, prettier, less volatile.be intense and grotesque, feeland talk loudtell the world what you thinktell…
Hell Has Frozen Over
By JULIA KLEINBERG on April 2025
The island’s Envirodome display hadn’t changed in days. At least, the same things kept popping up all over the massive, spherical screen: old cooking videos…
There
By REAGAN JOHNSON on April 2025
There,PhysicallyYou’re thereEmotionallyYou’re notEmotionallyStoppedAnd shut downTurned awayFrom youBut you thereYou’ve taught meTo mask upTo turn off my emotionsYou’ve shownA different part of lifeHereMaybe just maybeThere is…
The Prelude of Spring
By YUCHEN LIN on April 2025
Spring, you are the day of revival.Though I and all things are trapped in ice and snow,the spring breeze breaks through everything,making my heart thump…
What is Left of You
By ZADIE WANG on April 2025
CW: Miscarriage, alcohol, domestic violence. Her husband came home one night, later than usual. It was clear to her, when he walked into their bedroom, that…
Faerie Politics (Prologue)
By JULIA KLEINBERG on March 2025
I stand facing the town hall, my wings quivering slightly, trying to muster the courage to enter the massive building. I hate all government offices.…
Riding Hood Revisited
By JULIA KLEINBERG on March 2025
The girls in the village know not to seek out the one who lives in the shadows. They don’t know why, only hearing the whispers…
Curling Breeze
By CAEDMON SETHUPATHY on March 2025
Oh curling breeze, My valentine skybound, Dance with me and pull me through the stars. Dance with me through all the towns and bars. Play…
The Shallow Shore of a Lake
By CAEDMON SETHUPATHY on March 2025
I feel too tired to write a poem. Ordinarily it would be a task of some relief, A break from the monotony of scholastic thought,…
Omelettes 2
By THEODORE DUFRESNE on March 2025
I woke then, in your grove, Through the bramble, we had dove. You split yokes onto the stove: In the pan – the mass did…
The Mask Maker
By ZADIE WANG on March 2025
After an excruciating wait, I found myself face to face with the Mask Maker. I’d waited idly for hours, twiddling my thumbs and letting my…
Attention All People
By TARAN KNUTSON on March 2025
We are building a Computer building a Computer The background task a flowing river Packets sent to every client Stay inside do not leave home…
An Ode to What Isn’t
By THEODORE DUFRESNE on March 2025
Oh sing for what isn’t, the always unknown. When the pen brings peace to a bleeding warzone, And each soldier shrugs off a cracked collarbone.…
You think my women are oppressed
By RUKIA ABED on March 2025
You think my women are oppressed— because they walk with their heads covered, because their hands are rough from labor, because their voices do not…