reclaim your voice.
I wear glittering jewels around my neck Though all they remind me of Is the weight of such a sour love A love like rotten cream That curdled long ago Under the heat of your hate Of my innocent wholeness. So determined to break me In order to convince yourself The best cups to drink…
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You will forever be embossed in my heart, How I feel tormented by your departure. Your love and support is my remedy, Stored in the deepest of memories. When you’re young, your heart’s an open book. A childhood where love is all you Making nostalgia the crook The type of innocent love With…
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Featured Image: Paulo Nicolello They tell us to hold on As if that ever stopped homes from washing away From a rushing flood Or stopped a plane From crashing down to Earth In a blaze of fire and fear. But our wings were sawed-off And we fell from the high Heavens Not in a flurry…
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Featured Image: Sanket Deshmukh I would love to just tell you a story of liberty But that would be unjust for my people And not very liberating for me. Just a century ago, stories of smiles were told But lo and behold, Just now Al-Aqsa was raided And either the world does not care or…
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Featured Illustration: Shehzil Malik They ask me Are you fasting? Then look on with suspicion When I say no Waiting for some explanation As to why I’m not quite This caricature of a Muslim woman They’ve put together in their heads From scraps on the news, TV shows, movies, And their general opinion Of what…
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Featured Image: Laura Shannonhouse We are gathered here today The Masked Priest’s voice booms To celebrate the life Of this straight self Though voices wail And I open my eyes to peek Too curious to keep them shut And suddenly I see A hundred lovers so beautiful Though they weep draped in black, Gripping odd…
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Featured Image: Jernej Graj Dear Straight Self I wish you had known many things Though I know you needed to stumble Blindly groping about in the darkness Before you could rip that blindfold off your eyes And finally sprint into daybreak. I now know you were deluded So deluded by the illusion Of your heterosexuality…
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Featured Illustration: Danielle Brooks, ‘Black Woman’ I try on masks and coats, Trying to find the right face and skin Lest they dump me in the graveyard And hang me out to dry Like rotten fruit in a bowl Careful to separate me from the others Lest I spoil them too, So focused on speaking…
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Featured Illustration: Emilia Khan Trigger Warning: Abuse. . . . The way your hands move As you gracefully go about Light on your feet And a sweet scent of flowers trails behind you And every time you stumble With every step making you wince The limp in your light steps The pain makes you tiptoe…
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