Mother of Pearl
“Mother / was not the first word in my mouth. The word was baba: / meaning, father; meaning, mouth.”
Blog
Knee Length #4
By Khalisa Rae
In Knee-Length, poet and journalist Khalisa Rae navigates the nuances of an inherited conservative legacy. Pulling from memories of her religious upbringing and education, family history, and matrilineal teachings, Knee Length is a history reimagined and excavated—a rebellious relearning of desire and respectability, family and faith.
HUSBAND LIKES HER TO LEAVE FRUIT IN HER VAGINA ALL DAY SO HE CAN EAT IT LATER
“Can we ever write woman / without writing fruit? / Without food, blood-red, or cut/gash/slit / in half?”
Against Adjudication [I-II]
By Hazem Fahmy
“In another life, my / fate would be a throne of orchids, / gargantuan. Vanilla flowers would sprout wherever I walked.”
and she stepped out of the grove
By Aiya Sakr
“tell me about my birth my migration / my coming to this language not my language”
Knee Length #3
By Khalisa Rae
In Knee-Length, poet and journalist Khalisa Rae navigates the nuances of an inherited conservative legacy. Pulling from memories of her religious upbringing and education, family history, and matrilineal teachings, Knee Length is a history reimagined and excavated—a rebellious relearning of desire and respectability, family and faith.
Deadlines: September & October
Every middle of the month: new deadlines, new contests, and new opportunities for your voice to find the …
screensaver
By Huan He
“he stared into the abyss, computer monitors under the screensaver’s spell, he / kept looking, never a backward glance but ahead”
Poetry We Admire: Afghan Poets
Over the course of the last month, the world has watched violence unfold at a shocking pace across …