crip wisdom ghazal

By Tala Khanmalek unbound pages carry my inheritance from Baba
a strategy to get around the system, like Baba

Apokaluptein

By Hayan Charara The Arab apocalypse began around the year
of my birth, give or take—
the human apocalypse,
a few thousand years earlier.

By Caridad Moro-Gronlier if i should
take you
to that spot
by the water
you can’t pronounce
but love

By Arianna Monet I say Well, it is a compound word, so..

Code. Noun.
A system of marking things with different colors
as a means of identification.

By Siaara Freeman When I say ancestors, let’s be clear:
I mean slaves. I’m talkin’ Tennessee
cotton & Louisiana suga. I mean grave dirt.

By Cintia Santana inside
a cell
a heart

(my cousin’s)

inside
his heart
(inside
a cell)
a cluster
of cells

arrested

By Aurora Levins Morales Why do they call us "the patient"
We are not patient. We endure.

By Adela Najarro I have learned to speak dementia
by looking straight into her eyes
smiling, laughing, then digging deep

By Allison Adelle Hedge Coke Your arm was twisted, bone exposed
face past point of wet stained,
fledgling fell there

By Joselia Rebekah Hughes Black able rack able
hack able tack able
lack able slack able