John Tumlin – Mac Watson’s Last Testament

Mac Watson’s Last Testament Recording found in a pressure suit This bottle’s almost gone, but I don’t think I’d trade it for ten sippers full of air that starve your blood unless you poke along. Your time runs out no matter what the charge, and I don’t give a damn for time as such. I’ve […]

Bonnie Wai-Lee Kwong – self portrait in vivo

                                        self portrait in vivo                                     grass                                         spills                                       into sunlight                                                                       the innermost                                                                 tongue                                                             of an orchid            splays in                         wild        repose                                                                                      water                                                                                             opens to light                                                                                what to reflect                                                                                         what to let pass                                                                      if you don’t                                                                             see                                                                      this rainbow                                                   come around                             look                                                                        from                                      the angle                                   of my eyes                                                              if                                           you                                               approach                                                               me                                                      like sunlight                                                                                  I could be […]

Jessica Yuan – Origin Point

Origin Point In the naturalist’s study each shelf is preserved as he kept it, a row of bird feathers, fish skeletons, a severed hand tied at the stump with lace doily and ribbon, red-spined seashells, skulls of lesser humans, a hydrocephalic fetus, pinecones, iridescent beetles, a yellow lump of skin pushing formaldehyde to the top […]

Aaron White – caged school buses in Kankakee

caged school buses in Kankakee alarm clock on the carpet where my dresser used to be. if I’ve learned anything it’s that books can’t teach me. you are the capstone course of my formative years. I’m educated in: •   Your embrace •   Whiskey eyes •   Birdless banter this I’ll remember as I run from home […]

Stephen Toskar – Repaying an Immigrant for Teaching Me How to Steal, Long Island, May 1955

Repaying an Immigrant for Teaching Me How to Steal, Long Island, May 1955 Fannie tried to teach me how to steal spring, but it’s taken years to get the knack. First I had to imagine a 6-year-old refugee with a rag doll disembarking circa 1892    in New York after weeks of skulking across Europe—after months […]