7 proud lbs ekphrastic
Deon Robinson
Let us create a word then, for when
we catch a god down by the river and rather
than introduce them to the knife—
to its riveted and precise wound-making—
we indulge in something the world can’t teach us, lick it
in the endless ribbons of light that color us
dark, and say don’t worry, this is a lullaby,
a gold tooth snuggled under the pillow, a currency
so dreamlike it almost doesn’t belong to a country
at all, and isn’t this a species of witness
resurrected from extinction, a heart that pumps
on the good clean water alone.
Deon Robinson is an Afro-Latino poet born and raised in Bronx, New York. He is an undergraduate at Susquehanna University, where he was the two-time recipient of the Janet C. Weis Prize for Literary Excellence. His work has appeared in Homology Lit, Honey and Lime Lit, Kissing Dynamite Poetry, Occulum Journal, Okay Donkey and the Shade Journal, among others. His work was also nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology in 2019.
Issue 14
2020
A Firefly Mural Painted on the Inside of my Eyelids
Jake Price
Cirrus
clouds
collect
dust
in the
sky.
My pupils eclipse and dilate
swim laps around the inside of my iris.
I see spots.
This is the only thing in my entire life
that I know to be true. When you look into the red sun
as it sinks past the horizon,
you see spots.
The cicada orchestra commences.
Every song I’ve ever known playing
simultaneously. When I close
my eyes and listen
I see spots.
Silver
light
crowds
around
both of
my eyes.
Jake Price is a sophomore student who spends too much time reading his poetry to his cat, who has yet to give him any useful feedback. He was born in Texas, but now resides in McConnelsburg, Pennsylvania. Writing has been something he has loved doing ever since he was a little kid, and he hopes to one day make a living off of it.
Issue 16
2023