Poetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Princess of Wales by Lily Gavazov Princess of Wales My father used to tell me— because she died almost ++++++++++++++exactly three months before I was born— +++++++++++part of her soul transferred to me. Maybe it was destiny I inherit it from her. The unrelenting quest for perfection. Methods— ++++++increasingly messy. Her puddings. My candy wrappers +++++++++++++++++++++stashed. Delicacies, ++++++commodities funnel down gullets. Palace bathrooms, apartment lavatories. A body folds over: hand tunnels into mouth, another nudges ++++++++++underneath rib cage. My synthetic sapphire ring caught between two cliffs— suspended into +++++++++never enough. In ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Two Poems by Andrew P. Dillon From The Shadow (5) Body my house my horse my hound what will I do when you are fallen -May Swenson When craning my neck, vertebrae rose like stegosaurus plates— +++++++++++++++++++++++maybe a primal defense provoked by my reptile brain. Arms & legs also of the bird people, +++++++++++++++++++++++if I had to escape my only hope was to out-run the lions taking stock. I had to grow +++++++++++++++++++++++my bear, throw my body to the ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Mother and Mind by James B. Nicola Mother and Mind At first she minds you but you do not know. Then she minds you and you do not mind Until the day she minds you and you mind. Then she minds you so that you don’t know She’s minding you, she thinks. You know, and mind. She doesn’t know you know or doesn’t mind Until the day she knows and starts to mind. Then she ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Narrow Corner, Carpinteria Beach by Susan Eyre Coppock Narrow Corner, Carpinteria Beach White house, aqua shutters. There Aunt Selena wears a flowered rayon dress, a field of blooms swaying as she walks. There the looming portrait of her sure-eyed father stares out at the room steering his sailing boat diagonally to Catalina Island. Mustached, in a brimmed straw hat, turning the wooden wheel, he muscles the family along. There Uncle Wilfred sits in his chair fingering his black bolo tie, ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Two Poems by Lanette Sweeney What I Should Have Said After my wedding, you relapsed, came home from detox shaky, called to seek my advice. Wary of enabling you, or enraging my weary wife, I focused on logistics, said your girlfriend and daughter could stay with me, said it seemed unfair for them to be made homeless by your failure to stay clean. Ever reasonable, you agreed this made sense, heard this as a pass, knew they’d be safe, so left them–and ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 monochrome by Kelsey Day monochrome it starts with the bed / crosscurrents, tidelines / my wrists nailed to the pillow / strangled under the curtains / i am / too feeble to turn on the lights / the laundry sweats in the hamper / rubber bands snap, unsnap / my body becomes aware that it is a body / it knocks on the window / and turns on its side / ...
Read MorePoetry Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Grace and Grit by Emily Boshkoff Grace and Grit I. ++++Twelve That first time, I did not recognize my illness as “other.” It was inevitable, like getting taller, or falling in love. A lovely despair descended like a black-velvet envelope, not unlike the first hit of a drug, deliciously dangerous. Like tasting a rich, foreign dessert for the first time, I let it dissolve on my tongue with a mixture of terror and longing. II. ...
Read MoreArt Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Artist’s Statement by James Reade Venable Emptiness his is 42nd St. at 12:59pm on Sunday, May 24th. It was taken while I was delivering food on bike. I did this to survive during the pandemic, as being a waiter or bartender wasn't an option. But it enabled me to see New York in a way in which I would never forget, and gave me the opportunity to take ...
Read MoreArt Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Artist’s Statement by Natalie Brescia Love Sorrow Self Portrait have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Love Sorrow, a self-portrait series, examines my relationship to mental illness. I am interested in the concept of duality and the dichotomy of light and dark. Through the visual metaphor of a split image, I depict the intensity, as potent as the contrast between black and white, of feeling internally fractured. ...
Read MoreArt Issue #7: Mental Health April 15, 2021 Artist’s Statement by Husein Taherbhai The Suicide Ward he Suicide Ward is a tribute to our frontline workers for their fathomless dedication in fighting the pandemic, especially during the early stages when there were not enough PPEs available. Besides the vaccine, their courage, long hours, and sacrifices are significant reasons for hope in coming out of this pandemic. We owe a huge debt to these people in our ...
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