Poetry

Two Poems—Rhiannon Hall

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Two Poems by Rhiannon Hall Theirs Alex has ++++panic +++++++++attacks +++++this is +++like +++++++++++one of ++theirs I sit in the back of class with friends teacher is talking about sexuality, gender identity after five students tried writing from the perspective of trans characters I push away, to disappear into the back corner I remember a beach, lit sunset-orange Alex explained they identify gender fluid, pronouns they/them/their juice from our crocodile burgers dripped on sand, pooled between fingers, mum and dad cuddled Alex, I said I loved them now, unexpectedly, +++++++something’s wrong +++it wasn’t ++++++++++++++before maybe +++++++my cisgender worldview ...

Three Poems—Ron Riekki

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Three Poems by Ron Riekki the prison near where I grew up keeps getting bigger just like the casino near where I grew up how it just explodes in size, how it’s bigger than my hometown now, how a neighbor lost his house to the casino and ended up in prison and how the casino eats houses and how the prison eats people and how hungry the hospital is, nearby, where I work, how the hospital eats houses and people and how ...

Three Poems—Joe Amaral

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Three Poems by Joe Amaral Come Passion I perform a case study on myself to see where my lack of compassion drops anchor from the vessels portholing my heart cabin. I am numbing like an addict. My vices drowned, internal caves: nerve delay and wave turmoil bobbing beneath the driftwood debris of me. Passion wells, a misdirected squall, and what the tide drags to shore is a drenched self I cagily abhor crawling away from beached scrutiny. I must ...

Godly Hospital—Anthony Butts

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Godly Hospital by Anthony Butts Godly Hospital —Composed while admitted as a patient at CMC-Randolph psychiatric hospital Seasonal missalettes lay stacked on an end table in a Charlotte mental hospital at four a.m. I have slept all I can once again. The dream was deep, my own voice singing solemnly “in a Ford SUV” as I chased women in the silly ways of days past. I walked alone, as I awoke, my money squandered, ...

Note to the Young Doctor—Heather Cameron

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Note to the Young Doctor by Heather Cameron Note to the Young Doctor Doctor, oh doctor, doing your rounds, Your voice carries when you walk the ward. We lopped off the breast, you say to the students, Who nod and scribble and scurry around. There you are, an arborist in some parallel universe, Carelessly lopping the branches from trees. Dis-en-gage, dis-en-gage, dis-en-gage, I chant to myself in three four time. Lit-tle-pup. Lit-tle-pup. Lit-tle-pup. How are you today, you ...

A Boy with Cerebral Palsy—Carol Casey

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 A Boy with Cerebral Palsy by Carol Casey A Boy with Cerebral Palsy It means more when it doesn’t come easy, when there’s a glimmer of somebody home, groping toward a common humanity through tangled hallways hung with scars. In universal language you toss out party-favor pieces of yourself before again submerging into silicon. And we must learn the braille of the tensing and letting go of your twisted frame that we try so hard to unravel ...

Two Poems—Tanasha Martin

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Two Poems by Tanasha Martin Voice It is raw. Purpled and chafed thin, worn and warned. It denotes mere meemies before white coats: ++++++++another Medicaid queen to diagnose. It is tight. Squeezed fingers dig with nails that pierce the silence and trust that whatever pain I’m in, ++++++++it’s better than treatment in this skin. It is sore. It has hollered and howled, generations of harvests and fibroids and is now a high-pitched white noise— ++++++++bloody murder into the void. It is silent. On ...

Two Poems—Joan Doran

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Two Poems by Joan Doran The Discharge Planner’s Very Bad Day OK you may have rights but I have Rules. Don’t fix exhausted eyes on me, you ancient pleading dog. OK, we dragged you by the scruff, we counted all your lagging steps to prove you strong enough to get out of here— you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Here’s a list: pick one, go there— where’s not our business. But hey, old dog We petted ...

Poetry Issue #6: Bias November 20th, 2020 November 20th, 2020 Poetry Letter from the Poetry Editor: How We Will Move Forward—Together, or Not at All Voice and Do the Math | Tanasha Martin Theirs and Visiting Hours | Rhiannon Hall (he walks away) there’s nothing unhealthier than working in health care, ++++++++the prison, and shift | Ron Riekki A Boy with Cerebral Palsy | Carol Casey The Discharge Planner’s Very Bad Day ++++++++and The Way Some Children Die | Joan Doran Note to the ...

Obit Review—Steve Granzyk

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 The Healing Power of Imagination: A Review of Victoria Chang’s Obit by Steve Granzyk n her fifth book of poems, Victoria Chang mourns her mother’s death from pulmonary fibrosis and the disintegration of her father’s mind after a stroke, including his deteriorating ability to speak coherently. In effect, both parents are now lost to her. Philosophically, Chang shows her grasp of the fundamental paradox of human existence—given ...