POETRY
pyrrhus retires from war
pyrrhus retires from war words by Namah Jaggiillustration by Jennifer Fong-Li “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.” –Plutarch i love like a broken thermostat. like it has no repercussions, like we have gas to last a lifetime and the ...
PARTY POST-MORTEM
PARTY POST-MORTEM words by Brooke Collinsillustration by Natalie Song The party passed peacefully In the late hours of the night. A friend of a friend clinging to the dark, Swaddled by the door. Day breaks And we emerge From Glitter-stained pillowcases, Hanging over each other on the 502, ...
Consequence
Consequence words by Ben Murphyillustration by Raquel Lewin The haze is finally gone, Vanished with the bang of a gun And an upset stomach. It twirled and swirled its way through night till daybreak, When the crimson sun arrived again Raining hellfire down on this parasitic host. But it ...
Junkyard Circus
Junkyard Circus words by Max Leesillustration by Jennifer Fong-Li It begins with a silence beneath the tinted sky where only a word or two tumble out a slot in the door and risk being lost in the wind. Deadbeats wander and pick through immature mountains of debris, old books ...
petersburg
petersburg words by Gillian Chapmanillustration by Sharada Mujumdar here it comes— the edges of my frail mind falter and fade. dreadful closet walls, dirty and mangled, sick yellow paper, turn, twist, tighten, swallow whole. through the dingy apartment esophagus i am thrown into the stomach of the street suffocating summer sweat ...
An Authoritative List
She let me hit it because I’m goofy… She let you hit it because you followed my authoritative list: She’s wonking on my willy ‘til I chocolate factory She’s doofen on my shmirtz ‘til I incorporate her evil She’s robbing on my barts ‘til I comm She’s cranning on my ...
Liminality
to catch a bus in its natural habitat, you must stay alert and aware. these are fickle, erratic beasts, ostensibly diurnal, occasionally nocturnal, their migration patterns known to be predictably unpredictable. despite their size, they are relatively docile creatures—a disposition which has led to the slow erosion of their position ...
Oh to be Lumpy Yogurt on a Bright Winter Day
Illustration | Jennifer Fong Li Lumpy yogurt, oh so sour Winter’s chill, we must endure In the recycling bin, a cookie crumbles Cilantro sprouts on the farm, humbles But in the cliché camp of love Two male peacocks soar above Their feathers dance, their hearts ablaze Filibustered by society’s ...
Inferno
Illustration | Jennifer Fong Li I am not asking for much— A kiss on the cheek, a whisper of a secret. Perhaps I am the Devil’s daughter— Lust drunk and excruciating on all dimensions but one. I am demonic with angelic tendencies. I am feather light and pretty—the blue eyed ...
Achilles to Patroclus
Illustration | Jennifer Fong Li The ballads boast of my senseless rage, of wailing mothers and tortured breaths, of corpse-littered fields painted crimson red, But the poets never mention you in their songs, my love, you, who held my trembling warrior heart in your hands, you, who would lull away ...