Exactly What We Deserve Written by Vinnie Crow Slow-creeping tentacles, all dark smoke and oily ink, Sulfur-smelling past noon and rot into night, such a scent, that stink Of crust and mold, distinct from gore of Earth, from mulch and salty sea Has nothing on that sweet mirrored moon, craning craters, folding delicately Once and twice and then again, Each ripple smooth, like satin, snaking slack around the bend, A land of ghosts, a hoard of bones, belonging once and twice to

Shakespeare's Curse Written by Arez Lebedynska All the world's a stage for men, the women are only actors in marriages or brothels, pulled apart by society at their hem because no clothes could purify whore who isn't docile. A goddess starts being such at birth, the first to follow her to death is mother. A baby that is still virgin would hope not to suffer, at least not yet beneath the eye of a man. Sadly, all bitches grow up to be a bother. Women are stars before their bodi

Nature's Decree Written by Asrar Bine Yaqoob Men and Beasts lived side by side, Both by nature’s law did abide. Men with brains and Beasts with might Measured Earth’s every depth and height. Men with their intellect grew, While Beasts only simplicity knew. Men in every field advanced, Beasts in harmony with nature danced. Men full of prejudice grew corrupted; The balance of life they disrupted. Avarice in their world laid claim, Beginning a painful, gory game. Wars plagued th

Piles and piles of rocks Written by Lorenza Chiappetta When I look at waterbanks The ones lined with stones All I can see are bodies Because boulders and bodies have similarities They hold memories and tell stories that they call “dye-in-the-wool” of irate volcanoes  and gentle tides it takes a special person to tell which but we can all still rec

Woman in a Box Written by Ezri Francis They walk around with blood on their hands, while she cries with blood on her pants. She lives in a room that cannot be unlocked. She lives all alone, a woman in a box. People are screaming to set her free, but she cannot hear them, she cannot see. All she can hear is the loud crashing sounds of the surface above, while she lives underground. She found a small hole, and crawled through to escape. When she made it out, it was already too

Blood Permane nce Written by Breezy Jewel I once thought of myself as an accismus over some sort of passionate ballad until my desire mutated completely into what I feigned to reject. I don’t want this, not here, not for a while, not even a little bit. I don’t want the weight of the world held between your eyes, not when the weight of the world entails the masses begging to live without barbarity. Here- the absence of any sort of pragmatic competence, where language is displa

Concrete Utopia Written by Breezy Jewel Risen from blood-soaked plains and riverbanks, Liquid hope poured into wooden frames Then hardened into what many could believe to be the shape of harmony, Or, at the very least, a mold that somewhat resembled it.  These cities grew, in curves, in spaceships, Not for gods nor kings, But for balconies meant to face the same sun, For halls wide enough for everyone to enter. The concrete was never meant to be cold, It was meant to remember

Black Girl, Initiate Written by Maya-Gawonii Shabazz-Saleh I learned early that cruelty has a logic, and if you listen closely enough, it will tell you why it chose you.  In fifth grade, I was the only Black girl at a sleepover, and even before anything happened, I understood— not intellectually, not in language, but in the way my shoulders stayed tense and my voice stayed small— that I was already marked. I remember the house more clearly than the girls themselves. Walls p