Volume 9, Issue 3
Penthouse or The Joke of All Time
They told me to be quiet / And they told me to be candy / To smile and be sugared / And they told me I was beautiful / They told / That’s how they taught…
173 pieces
Pieces
Volume 9, Issue 3
mothers
I see her now, wearing her past like a cloak / stitched of secret shames, / fastened with hairspray and dusty perfume. / She cooked and laughed and never…
Volume 9, Issue 3
Lombardy Poplar
Exalt / every branch raised / around each bough unbowed. / The feather of you visible / winter-lit from angel’s wing now rooted / quill, reaching all arms…
Volume 9, Issue 3
Waking my 11-year-old at 2 am
He hits me flat-handed / and he’s not even awake to apologize. / He hits me when the lancet hits / his finger, before I get the jewel / of blood onto the…
Volume 9, Issue 3
Father // Son
“It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Frederick Douglas / He’d drive a ten-penny straight / into the two-by-four / with one…
Volume 9, Issue 3
I get a Deeper lifestyle here
On a sun-fried morning in Lagos Island, / where danfos cough carbon dioxide into the blue sky / and the air smells of pepper soup and hot rice, / the…
Volume 9, Issue 2
Flowers at my feet
They are perfect proof — / nothing in nature makes sense / except in the light / of evolution. / — Dandelions breaking through concrete. / — Violets…
Volume 9, Issue 2
African Speculative Realism
In the silence – a gourd / In the gourd – a mask / In the mask – a prophecy for the unborn / In the prophecy – a storm of retributions / In the storm – a…
Volume 9, Issue 2
Anyway
She rarely picked the horses / nor put the crosses on the coupon. / Tea leaves were her forte, up to a point. / The point was either / The Day She Got It…
Volume 9, Issue 2
The Conspiracy Theorist’s Mantra
Never shake a hidden hand / if it stinks, bury it / if you don’t want to hear / something, don’t listen / if you don’t want to hear something, nor does…
Volume 9, Issue 2
Dreams of the Beach
You said, come down to the beach and see, / but I lay face down on the bed in frozen jetlag, / our bags piled around me in various stages / of…