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You Got Your Spell on Me, Baby Santana, “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” A woman exited the B Line train near her North Hollywood bungalow just as the night sky began to look as if God were juggling with the sands of time. The train exited the station leaving a neon streak in the darkness that […]

In college I cut my hair boy short, you noticed  and saw value in inadvisable decisions.  At night we would center ourselves on a half mattress,  meant for a sofa bed, on the floor.  Your mother bought us a new bed. Handmade beautiful honey pine. A year later the soft wooden slats began to buckle, […]

Memories lie In rosary beads Rose bush seeds Between fingers In prayer Scattered, buried Both bloom From dark places Of the mind The earth Reaching toward sunlight Hunting for dawn Outstretched among the thorns The aches and alleluias Mementos of the heart Shrouded in sepia Beads bound by chains Familiar refrains Like the roots of […]

I dreamt I dreamt I begged  you for us to watch  The Office—it was  so ominous inside,  so insidious inside of me.  When I awoke I was so still, still thinking I was in limbo still. The frogs, they only laughed at me. Why do they? Why do they laugh as the dawn draws near? […]

The first bath after leaving the institution was a baptism.  I surrendered it all to the water like dark offerings to a dark god.  In the swirls of warm water, I unfurled my armor, scraping it away  with the razor blade over my fuzzy legs, secreted it to the soapy suds  that clung to my […]

Seeking Damage I envy all the freaks the careless the risk-takers  Particularly the vulnerable  Those not debilitated by fear If you wear your flaws well You become interesting It’s no fun  to be the wallflower the shadows are less engaging the silence is too loud I’m looking to be destroyed by those who do not […]

Catherine Garbinsky is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. They are currently studying for their MFA in Poetry at the University of Tennessee-Knoxille. Catherine serves as Assistant Poetry Editor for Homology Lit. They are the author of two chapbooks, All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press, 2019).

two small watercolour paintings – based on photographs of Victorian girls, inmates of the workhouse. JW Summerisle lives in the English East Midlands. Their poetry & artwork can be found in Catatonic Daughters, The Madrigal, SAND, & Re-Side. They may sometimes be found on twitter @jw_Summerisle

It was hard enough, so I thought today I would try being beautiful. Scrounging through boxes of long ago nonsense I found keepsakes. I wore them. It felt good. I felt like I did when I had them— happy, fun—before I  became so worried, hurt. For a moment, healed. I keep them now, give them […]