CategoryIssue 2.1

Herd poem by Kate Radford I have taken shelter from my kind among slow trees in the glen. Shaded from white cloud-light by waxy leaves – some spined, some smooth – layered in shades of green whittling the weak light to bright points of white. Underneath here is wind and the second-hand rain (a morning’s

forced feels poem by Emma Wilson peelings on the table must be brushed off with a quick hand and collected by the other. roughness of orange remnants must be scrubbed with equal roughness. calluses scrape the surface, fingernails knead dirt in the kitchen and the garden. * other fingers need my skin to trace the

What is Possible poem by Michael Warne Close fall bark. Walking through the woods, I can’t help but wonder: do I make this much sound in the city? Door closing, keys falling, barking. I’m only now noticing the way couch potatoes grow eyes and roots, and how bookworms never crawl.

The Things Our Mouths Know poem by Jessica Vugteveen Samson met Delilah at a party, drunk on wine, after he’d pulled down a temple full of Philistines. He knew her name before he’d asked, another talent from the Lord, and the name opened like a flower on his tongue, De…lie…lah, the petals curling in his

Oysters poem by Tara Simonetta Slimy Slippery Sliding off the half shell into my uncle’s mouth “Tastes like watermelon,” he says As he throws the shell back onto the beach. Scrape Crash Oysters fall into the bucket Barnacles bursting Calcium grinding A knife through the shell “do you want the muscle?” Salty Watermelon of the

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