here’s how things are named:a) like they areb) like we want them to be. I was born with a namewoven into my intestines.mother said she hadn’t noticed.father doesn’t knowbecause he was never there. mother once […]

here’s how things are named:a) like they areb) like we want them to be. I was born with a namewoven into my intestines.mother said she hadn’t noticed.father doesn’t knowbecause he was never there. mother once […]
Lady Justice news of her deathrushes through meand it takes a minuteto process the meaningbecause I’ve been in denialfor years that we’re justpounding nails into ourown coffin and this year’sa banner year for nails Can’t […]
Photograph by Venus De Milo. Life Story They said mustaches are illegal ifyou habitually kiss people.That we can’t carry ice creamin our back pockets on Sundaysbut can marry at fifteenwith parental consent.They said women can’t […]
Spring 2020 At first light they start. The latest scourge has cometo me by computer screen:digital images and soundsof the breathless, the dying.Voices of the millionsgathered in revolt. Removedby two hours from New York,I am […]
He threw in the farm he envisioned,a thick shawl of trees surroundingstraight seams of feed corn,cattle dotting generous pastures. He tossed in the househe’d never have with a wifedeported, everything sold to paya lawyer who […]
Cities are ablaze,ablaze with shame,babies born into skinmade wrong, sorekeening for theirmothers, sisters ofliberty done crying,wring our woesto their rhythm. Cities are ablaze,ablaze with shame,throats ripped inbroad daylight ona busy city street,sisters of libertydone crying,wring […]
“Breathe Keep breathing I can’t do this Alone”— Thomas Edward Yorke Keep exhaling, let the pen,marker black, scratching outwords on the page be yourvoz. With each erasuremi compañera tu siemprestar skyward while recreatingbreaths, clouds once […]
Translator’s Note: These poetic excerpts come from Elena Salamanca’s book Landsmoder, which was written for a performance she staged in 2011 where, dressed like a “president’s wife,” she mounted a national monument in San Salvador […]
Dark Matter the townsfolk sing we shall overcomewhile hope bleeds slowly from my mouth—Lucille Clifton, “jasper texas 1998” Another black man was shot last week,his life a toll in the streets. People pitched hope with […]
Queer Utopia It’s April. I watch you shoot arrowsfrom a smooth-carved cherrywood bow. The target is a rope gongwhose center keeps movingbecause of the breeze, and your arrowsbounce in the grass. We talkabout nothing, and […]