Special FeaturerbdSantino DallaVecchia, poetry, Brian Spears

Santino DallaVecchia: Gender

Special FeaturerbdSantino DallaVecchia, poetry, Brian Spears
Santino DallaVecchia: Gender
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gender

 

when the boy acquiesces to being called // the boy who will be called man // who will lose his hair to male pattern baldness // a lonely inheritance from his grandfather // who will wear a beard to cover the long jawline he didn’t want // i hope my face stays this way // he’d said at eleven // pretty // not understanding what he wanted // not realizing that bone can’t move like clay // too late now to fight this jaw // he pricks his thumb // lets a little blood into the muddy hard // feels the phantasmagoria around him get quieter // and quieter //  wonders what he’s losing // notice how quickly the æ has been abandoned // wonders why jezrahel’s suddenly gone silent // why he can hear the winter ocean slipping sand and ice into its mouth // while he kneels in the mud-world // midwestern spring

childhoods

 

  // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

  

when the priest // cues the deacon // says // let us bow our heads and pray for god’s blessing // the boy thinks // a blessing would’ve never been being born // in the first place

 

// // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

 

the girl’s mouth aches from drinking the chocolate river // her older sister smirks at her // you know // she says // the canker sores from all that sugar // and the girl shrugs // looking to be ignored in her excess // sure // what about them // a shadow passes over the sun // the cicadas fall silent // well // i don’t know where i’m going with this exactly // but someday // you never know when // could be tomorrow // could be when you’re a hundred and three // you’ll die

 

// // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

 

thus do the boy and the girl learn the name of dread

 

// // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

 

decades later // in the small town flower-shop // with more lawn ornaments than flowers // more trinkets than buds // they stare into a koi pond // see the biggest fish blink at them // the boy squeezes the girl’s hand // they aren’t together together yet // but no-one else is around // so she squeezes back // as the fish turns into bones // bobbing at the surface // its eyes still staring // a silent reproach against the boy // against the girl // for living

 

Santino DallaVecchia is a queer poet from Michigan and graduated with an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Special FeaturerbdGillian Parrish, poetry

Gillian Parrish: Currency

Gillian Parrish is a teaching-geek who currently divides her not-enough-time between stacks of papers on brain-gut neuroscience in the classroom, persona poetics, community policing, and a mermaid tale for her sweet little niece. Her poems have appeared in various journals such as Gulf Coast, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Literary Review, and forthcoming in Volt. She's the mothership behind spacecraftproject, an arts and poetry journal with an ethos best summed up in the words of said 4-year-old niece (hope for the planet), who, at Christmas dinner, solemnly remarked that "We are all connected. In a web. Like The Force."

Special FeaturerbdGillian Parrish, poetry
Gillian Parrish: Currency
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Catie Hannigan: Endlessly into Nowhere

Catie Hannigan is a poet and visual artist from Maine. Her first chapbook, What Once Was There Is The Most Beautiful Thing, was published by DIAGRAM / New Michigan Press in 2015. Her second chapbook, Water Fragments, is a poetic essay on water and islands, and is forthcoming from Tammy Journal in 2017. She received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. More work can be found at www.catiehannigan.com.

Special FeaturerbdCatie Hannigan, poetry, special feature
Catie Hannigan: Endlessly into Nowhere
Special FeaturerbdDavid Hanlon, poetry, special feature

David Hanlon: As Fickle as an Orange Is Orange

David Hanlon is from Cardiff, Wales, and currently living in Bristol, England. He has a BA in Film Studies & is training part-time as a counsellor/therapist. You can find his work online in or forthcoming with Calamus Journal, Occulum, Riggwelter Press, Dirty Paws Poetry Review, Into The Void, Impossible Archetype & The Rising Phoenix Review, among others.

Special FeaturerbdDavid Hanlon, poetry, special feature
David Hanlon: As Fickle as an Orange Is Orange