by Karo Ska inside me, strawberry jam  thickens  before leaking, dripping  then gushing. an 11 day early knock  at my cervix door. the moon  & me unsynced. the moon: predictable, well- behaved. not me. not this month. does my flesh crave reproduction? is it angry  i won’t host a family of cells? i have no […]

by Keren Darancette That decade we spent trapped in a smoke cloud. We gathered beneath the black ceilings of the bar, joined hands as one mass of sadness  one destruction.  We became dingy birds, caged and yellow, we sat in our cages hung deep in the mine waiting to die, to absorb the poison before […]

by Ellie Lopez Honey / sweet water / fingertips / more than hands could feed / sliced lemon / sting / hands washed clean / want you around / like an open wound / salt on your cuts / tender to touch / honey over flesh / suck the bittersweet / spit the seeds out […]

by Maritza Ocampo She’s there the reckless spirit the one who got you  through so much bullshit the one you relied on to pull you out of the hole you dug yourself into  she’s there she hasn’t cracked she hasn’t left  she’s transforming letting different emotions filter through and settle in challenging you she’s waiting […]

Alexandra Martinez is a baker and poet living in the tumbleweeds of Southern California. You can find her on Instagram @alxndramartinez or twitter @mexicanpiggybnk.

If you asked me  how it felt to be  raped, I couldn’t tell you.  My mind deleted that memory.  I can only tell  you what my mind  did to cope. You become the liar. He said you always  were, so any form  of trauma is just  a lie that you wove, to get attention.  You […]