My Mother’s Hair by Nancy Holmes
“Two years after my mother’s death, I walk / in the soft, searing claws of the sun.” — Nancy Holmes
[What does it mean to square something?] by Gillian Sze
“We repeat, reshaping and destroying, always starting from the bottom.” — Gillian Sze
The Belly of the Wolf by Emma Miao
“How many girls / in the bellies of machines / that pretend to love them.” — Emma Miao
The Coming of Light by Mark Strand
“Even this late the bones of the body shine / and tomorrow’s dust flares into breath.” — Mark Strand
Tamara by Troy Jollimore
“he felt like a poem / being translated from one language into another.” — Troy Jollimore
The Intake Questionnaire for the Pain Clinic Ask if Pain Has Prevented Me From Having a Fulfilling Life by Kyla Jamieson
“I forget I’ve always lived / in this body, on this planet.” — Kyla Jamieson
This Isn’t The Life by Faith Arkorful
“I suffer, yes. Yes, I suffer. And I still / love nothing like I love myself.” — Faith Arkorful
Tomorrow is a Place by Sanna Wani
“She laughs and it’s an extension of her body. She laughs and it moves the whole room.” — Sanna Wani
Bun by Gillian Sze
"how lucky they are to witness / her miss the last tendril, / the one that sticks to her neck, / curled like a crescent moon." — Gillian Sze
Loyalties by Roo Borson
"Old shoes, the first my grown feet accepted / without the deep ache that comes / of trying on what others have meant for me." – Roo Borson