NON- Michal MJ Jones (prefix): expressing negation or absence; non-birth, non-gestational, non-biological. my death will leave no more evidence than my birth & my only origin story is absence. i fell from the sky’s nothing into an empty pool / hollow...
BLACK W*MAN Briana Grogan to abide by the rules of the Black woman is to survive. after 7 years strung to mechanics, my mother dared to disconnect and survive. for 17 days longer. despite the countdown, I’d imagine she remembered what it felt like to mount her...
CRAVINGS Jennifer Bartell When you grow up with a daddy who lovedchicken necks when chicken feets givethe luxury of eating and cleaning your teethat the same time when all is right in lifeand you reward yourself with a clutch of wingswhen your mama makes smothered...
USA V. DREXCIYA (16th–20th Centuries) Alyea Pierce When the whole point of throwing black bodiesoff slave shipsand into seawas so nobody would find themthere is a problemwhen what they are tryingto commemorateare people who weredeliberatelylost It is not naturaland...
SUPERSTITIONS Triston Dabney I knew we’d manage to squeeze another monthwhen momma’s hand started to itch.It meant money would soon come.To her palm she’d kiss and rub it against her bumto wash where the money was most deserving.That’s how she proved to Godthat she...
PREGNANCY TEST Camari Carter-Hawkins I keep it.The positive pregnancy test.It’s the last sign I have that confirmsI was a motherAm a mother. Settled like a coffin at my bedsideI can’t get rid of. I can bottle up the blood river on the floorBury it in a mason jar;It’ll...
