This honest review of Hazem Fahmy’s Waiting for Frank Ocean in Cairo was in exchange for an Advance Reading Copy provided to the author by Half Mystic Press. . . . In the spirit of full confession, that unsolicited offering that often makes for great poetry, I had never listened to Frank Ocean before I […]
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It was in 2019 that I met Megha Rao at the very first open mic I attended. I was enchanted by her piece which took me to lands I’d never known, seeing things I’d never seen. That’s what her poems are, they’re so much more than what they seem. Her latest publication, Teething, is what […]
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Featured Image: Scroll.in They traveled far, Over vast oceans Nestled at the bottom belly Of oversized ships in undersized cavities They were the first To settle on foreign lands With golden sands On lush plantations Promises of wealth Promises of freedom Promises of a free man From coolie belles To girmits Our […]
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Featured Images: Noor Unnahar Born and raised in Pakistan, Noor Unnahar is a best-selling poet and visual artist. She is currently pursuing her BFA from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, an art school by the sea in Karachi. She works with a number of mediums (photography, illustration, journaling, collages, and more!) and creates works […]
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Featured Illustration: Phung Banh Brown skinned girl Coconut wet black curls. Pigment in that burning gaze Could light any candle that holds your space. Speak with those honeyed and remedied lips Sway into the night with your ancestors’ hips. Never let them take your cinnamon sighs For a sign of defeated cries. Across the palms […]
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Featured Image: Mahmoud Abu Zeid Am I lucky I am not American? The guns rattling in my head, The banners, the posters, The Black Lives Matter The kids shaking the country till the government falls to its knees. Am I lucky I am not Yemeni? Constantly fighting the hunger, the pain, the hurt, The […]
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My mother told me to ‘Find someone who we love as hard as you’ I listened and this is where it has taken me An unwanted refugee of your heart A cycle of piercing memories Like my existence is for you to wear And my soul you stole so silently. I cannot speak what […]
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Featured Image: Drew Beamer Pray. Grasp these beads, they are your home For the temple lies within Pray. Sit beneath His feet Your body belongs to Him Terminate her image Her life in your mind Pray. Let the flame protect you Its gift in strength Ancestral intentions Words birthed upon infancy Burdens paralleled in honors […]
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When my mental health was at its lowest point, I was given a prescription of Prozac. My mood didn’t dip like before, but I wasn’t happy, either.
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