stability is just a dulling Lucy Zhou
the watery graveyard that catches me. one jerk of the navel and i wake up in a bathtub full of resin, slogging through a chain of lakes, i shit out yet another hole. forgive me
for my incontinence, my flowerpot is just overflowing — soiled bits throbbing in rainwater and shine, shriveling open with aphids sucking on the loam of my craven tongue.
in an email, i write: dr. murphy, it has come to my attention that i would prefer a meteoric death. nothing personal, you see i have waited long enough for the kettle to spill forth
soot, brine, human hair, the body ripped and bone-gash dribbling out ichor and yellow piss alike. once i went to the golden gate bridge and wondered if a pair of mandibles would wash up ashore
in a basket of seaweed. i don’t know why i thought that saltwater would be more merciful or that the gods would give a shit — the ground impacts the same whether viscous or several feet under.
can you define a meteoric death ? the good doctor
prescribes me one more bottle, he says,
for the trouble.
Good
Rachel Chalmers
I’m so good at bad news now,
Batteries in my bullhorn, sheaf
Of poems prepared. Milk and King, beloved dead, drip from my lips.
I’m so good at this. I feel it coming, Tip-toeing T-Rex, waters waking.
First responder with tissues and tough love, I’ve got the whole routine down.
Fuck you for finding my secret talent For rallying folks to forlorn hopes.
Fuck you, you walking disaster, human bullet, Stolen ballot, shitter of ashes, eater of peace.
Zaha Hadid · Ana Lazaro
Before We Were We Alana Cordeiro
I knew it when I saw you
My heart was pulling out my chest to get closer Your eyes looking through mine
Without any hesitation
Because you knew when you saw me
I heard it when they spoke of you
This wasn’t going to be easy
Maybe it was warnings
Maybe it was preparation
But maybe it didn’t even matter
I felt it when you kissed my lips
A touch that is permanently tattooed on my body A little flicker. Ignites.
Now this flame cannot go out
Like the sun, cover me whole
They notice when they see us
Ups and downs, but way more growth
We will learn with time
Over a decade later and still here
It was written, then it was known
Forum Literary Magazine 