Poems
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Edge Of The Ceramic-Rimmed-Potted Earth
By Natalia Figueroa Barrosoyour hardcover copy of Love in the Time of Cholera
rests on my nightstand like your bones
rest in peace wrapped in the soil of our homeland
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Hemiglossed
By Kathryn ReeseDad sits, crushed panadol and formula milk gravity fed into his belly.
On tv: sourdough, a sear of steak, a dressing of diced peach, torn mint, fresh red chilli—
He dozes, won’t turn it off.
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Between Cigarettes and Silence
By Bradley BradleyMy mother died of a cigarette in one hand
my voice in the other
to a detached handle
a closed door -
Circular Breathing
By Gabrielle Journey JonesBreathe in truth.
Simultaneously
Breathe out loss.
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This is Wrong Way by Lore
By Kerry Bulloojeeno Archibald MoranShe white fella wanted to take me
To jaagi maam sacred site's on wajaarr country
A place of muluurr blood, galaagarrbili sweat and budii tears
This invitation I did not mangga-bayila plan -
Takayna; Milaythina Ningi
By Theresa SaintyTAKAYNA; MILAYTHINA NINGI
(Takayna; Mother Country)
Nara Takayna; ngini paywuta
Wurangkili mulapana-nara nuritinga tunapri -
Elegy at 18
By Aloma DavisIf you take an object from a scale, it is lighter.
How, then, can an absence be so heavy?
Your loss is stony ballast dragging me under.
From now on I will shoulder a calendar of days -
Bread: A Fifteener
By Natalie Damjanovich-NapoleonAfter Dumina Frzop’s story
In the homeland we had to struggle for a piece of bread.
Slept in one room on the floor, cooked in a komin, -
For Grandad
By Phoebe GrainerOld cowboy hat.
We were laughing
Us mob
You telling us story. -
Developments
By Ella JefferyThat summer everything smacked
of tax write-off—men came to unslump
the sunstruck fence, rolled tarp-grey
carpet down the hall, but left -
An Heirloom of Love
By Adrian Mouhajer, Princess Arinola Adegbiteafter bell hooks
Here on my table, we share the memory of our countries,
centuries of recipes stitched into the strands of my hair, -
How to See Yourself
By Patrick GunasekeraAfter Audre Lorde and Laura Hershey
You strain against the words again,
Carefully chosen to throw out to them -
I Dance
By Manal YounusI’m a little bit stiff
my back not so used to bending
my body used to spending
hours pretending -
cycle
By Dominic Guerrerain a year that I thought would bring clarity and resolve
has only begun with pain, grief and torment
the cycle of years continues
the cycles continue -
Willow
By Juran AdamsWritten by Juran Timu-Adams
Verse 2 written by Jack McDonald
Maori verse written by Sjionel Timu
I used to try and move mountains -
Perimeter of Rectangles
By Laura PanopoulosSize one
Enervated by background noise,
recollecting my words,
they are far from push-button. -
bird around my neck
By Aries M. Gacutanwhere is my heart? —rotting at the bottom of the pacific ocean
hurled out the side of the plane
because i didn’t have the cash.
and my mouth, full -
a song you can’t unsing
By Lucy Nortonsame colour as ruin
as in take them from home
as in run songline to dust
same colour as ochre -
Clipper blades and feather pillows
By Jonathan SriranganathanSnip
snip-snip
snip, snip, snip
These days, you can hear that subtle clicking almost everywhere -
The Hero
By Ouyang YuNot anymore. Not anymore?
Are we talking about the one who was both literary and military, capable of lifting something some one thousand jin heavy, riding his horse and rushing into the enemy position alone, killing hundreds of them, taking one city after another, until the whole country fell into his hands, and writing hundreds of poems while dr…
