“Kenneka Cook” by Courtney Lebow
i, a lover of men and women,
meandering before a high
altar, safe in the crumbling tower—
orphaned in self-denial,
left with the obvious absurdity
of god himself,
over respectability
and renegade ambitions,
my delusions gave no
comforting superstitions—
Excerpt from “the gay atheistic beloved” by Caseyrenée Lopez with text appropriated from The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice, published in Calamus Journal
Listen first for anyone. Fill your pockets.
Measure the ditch with a wad of gum. Listen.
Stay still. Break open the gate with your fist.
a backseat to torch. Ditch it. You will need
someone, still. but later. from a pay phone. for
the rope. Empty your pockets. Check for wild fur
and the pant. who wad seats. or possums who hiss
under wild shrub. Sharp shooters check the wind.
Excerpt from “first, take a fistful of hair” by francine j. harris, available on Poetry Foundation
“Goldfish Studies” by Emma Rasich
Help, I meant
to shout to the girl,
mute, wading
near the pool’s
edge, her wishes
moneyless. I
shoved her
my dripping
fistfuls—I have
nowhere
to put this.
Excerpt from "Landscape with Girl and Ibises" by Ellen Kombiyil, published in diode
Nella Larsen, the first African-American woman to graduate from the NYPL Library School, would have her 127th birthday in April 2018. She was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance and published two largely autobiographical novels exploring the gray area between her the white and black heritage.
Image courtesy of James Allen.
pwatem reblogged
"The Mouse's Tale" is a poem from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
It's that time of the year again! Submit art and writing to our spring anthology by Wednesday, February 28th. Open to all VCU undergrads.
The ark is bright-
pulsing. Its floors—hay-dappled, wet-warped,
buckling. Its stables are wide and filled with
women. Women whipping around on all fours,
their heads pulled back, their mouths a frothed
blur. Women sleeping straight-backed against
wood beams, women speaking in trilling chirps.
Excerpt from "When They Find the Ark" by Paige Lewis, published in Passages North
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egfurlich
“An Arrangement in Black and White” by Dorothy Parker
The New Yorker, October 8, 1927
Thanks to our editor Emily Furlich for providing access to this text!
"The girl takes the egg everywhere. She washes it at school because the water at home does not get hot. She washes it with a toothbrush that her Math teacher threw away. Sometimes, the other students stare at her as she brushes the egg. They gargle and spit in the sink next to hers, and they wonder aloud, 'Why?'"
— Excerpt from Tim Raymond's "The Girl with the Egg," published in SmokeLong Quarterly
Image courtesy of Fernando Mafra.
The ground is full of fossil. Roller coaster calcium in the ground. I’m talking dinos. I’m a paleontologist, Rachel. I’m on the cusp of being offered to lecture on the dinosaur at New York University. It is still a living issue. We still need to know what she is thinking. The lizard oil pumps still in my brain cerebrum. Higher power. Memory of my first Sinclairosaur. I, hugging her leg, plastique. I said to her then, at the gas station, “Take it.” Take what happened to me. TAKE THESE PEAS OFF THE FUCKING FLOOR.
Caren Beilin, excerpt from "Freinds," published in the magazine Two Serious Ladies
"[Stevie] Wonder released his new song “Happy Birthday” to celebrate the life of [Martin Luther] King on his 1980 album "Hotter than July." The record’s sleeve featured a photograph of King with a message imploring fans to support the [bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday]: 'We still have a long road to travel until we reach the world that was his dream. We in the United States must not forget either his supreme sacrifice or that dream.'"
— Molly Rubin, The Contentious History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, In Photos, Quartz Media
The history of my stupidity will not be written.
For one thing, it’s late. And the truth is laborious.
Czeslaw Milosz, “Account”
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virginiacommonwealthuniversity
The last day of classes wrapped up with a blanket of snow on the Virginia Commonwealth University Monroe Park Campus