Category / 2019 / Spring 2019 / Visual Art

The young girl moves up on stilettoes,The church denies her entry on Sunday. It’s 8am, the church is closed. Sentry-Man says rapture is exclusive in nature. The young girl moves up the stairs & sits.Her sins are as heavy as her countenance. She has committed Gomorrah, a contagion.My poem & the birds doubt she would…

it was Sunday May 6thwe met up at the cemeterywhere my grandparents resideand buried my mom well, a portion of what remained of herit had been five months and two dayssince she died afterwards we stood aroundnot saying muchamazed we even found the gravestone i learned i was the only one whostill visited the cemeteryit…

Darling, I love you. I don’t knowWhat I did but I’m sorry. Take me backGive me what I want. What I need.Let me slip my hands beneath the skullAnd cup you in my palms, breathe a kissOn your tender membrane, coax you to a place of pity.Or, if you’d prefer, I could crush you like…

our last momemts together                          t                      u                  csparrows      t h e                  s         …

He grows his leeks upside downas he says the world is inside out. A row of carrots shoulder the soil,The holes in his jeans are from the knuckles of bone that have becomecrooked with every shovel lift or wheelbarrow rumble. The weathersits in his eyebrows, and time creases his skin. But he doesn’t care.He grows…

when i imagine youyou’re a chimeraassembled fromassorted partsthat somehowneatly fit togetherin a patchwork ofsurprising harmony your hearti’ve stolen froma bold gold lionlawless untamedking of beastssomehow it beatsthis royal heartin steady rhythmmatching mine your armssinuous and strongi have abductedfrom a bearboth brave and cleverbut they endnot in those vicious clawscapable of rendingtender fleshbut in strong handscapable…

How to take the stains out of blood‘Gently used’ surpasses a euphemismUnzip the front and it all falls outIntestines and indiscretions puddle on the floorDistressed genes not in a fashionable wayBiological anarchy, synapses with hydrogen stabilityWeighed down with gold turning to leadNot enough alchemists around to contrive valueLanding softer than expected on moss fieldsGrown beneath…

DaisyAn eclipseSalt of the earthPepper and paprikaSeasoned strands, rootsRed rollers Rolling pinsSaffron stained handsCafe y azucar y salsaNo chips on shouldersBate que bateEn su bataA batellarA majarY guallarLa GuerrierraA mastermindHer cocina is a canvasSeamstress, chef and artistFoods that sootheSew and stitchStents and stitchesShe kneadsShe kneelsShe is churchShe is CarnivalMemories and mistakesUnwritten memoirsMoonshine before midnightManzanilla in…

I told you my fear and      ​you laughed​;    but I was serious     and I was true—I do not want to leave my youth. Age and fragility,             they scare me—     I’m bigger than spiders       and darker than the darkbut time is beyond me …

i am enough,i have a bodyto fit with the mountain ranges the precipices of my spinedaunting and snow-cappedmy back grows jack-pinesand sequoia trees alikemy mouth flows outfreshwater lakes even thoughmy toes are dipped inthe salt of the ocean i am enough, my curvesmimic crashing wavesmy soft stomach a flowerbed of irises and liliesmy eyes have…

On days when I don’t want to workMy body Cocoon-likeI imagine Passing through purgatorial loops Mind narrowed to a pinpoint Arms and legs swinging Heavy Each plate A fish-scented Sisyphean effort                                           —— I take…

The emotions read like a scene from Poe. Not the Poe of black feathered ravens, tell-tale hearts, beating, slowly beatingdriving us mad from their shallow graves.Beneath the floorboards they were hidden. Not the Poe of black feathered ravens, slowly preening and fluffing every featherto assure a velvet smooth polished finish. Upon the bust of Pallas…

Spirited on a Saturday eveningMinus the blessings of my wife and friends,I began my epochal way to Harmony,Bypassing other strains of lifeformsWho had five different senses.Sailing through icy wet flamePast Pluto and Sirius, galaxies away,On my Buck Rogers expedition,Conquering a cryptic frontier,I lost all feeling of now and next.Using my blood as currency,I bargained to…

If everybody was a string,you’d be a rubber band, holding us all together like the bulk of note cards, I used to have, Stretching until—SNAP— that rebound leaves a ring of red on my skin. I would be a piece of fuzzstuck on freshly laundered clothing, frayed at the ends. You pluck me off and…

I am Lazarus Jairus’ daughter the widow of Naim’s son eyes scrunched and howling I re-enter the world a swaddled corpse new-born. What cursed twist is this paradise twice lostand doomed to die again? What strange love is this hurled out of heaven? Oh Christ! The pain! The pain! Ailisha O’Sullivan was born in Ireland and…

A woman drawn in charcoalholds her hand up, clenchedto the melting skies above herclaiming her own throughthe energy beyond her skin. It explodes into her palmand she takes it in, tensewith the blinding white blooddripping at once fromthe sparks in the clouds. Her hair, black carbon soot,the natural residue of flames,covers her darkened face.She stands…

I tried to carve a hymnon a rock one summer night untilstars cumulated on my sleevesand every single word becamea distinct footnote in my memory— invisible rainbows threw downtheir fillets and the moon sang hersongs on holy faces crying todead valleys and eventually prying,half-blind by one dead season— the fog, too, gently hummedits cold electric…