MICRO

Origin Stories

By ASLI MAHDI | 14 JUN 2017

By Viviane Sassen — 09-52 Manos, Courtesy of Félix Bernet

origin story #1

My black is a story of night and day.
My black is a story of mud and clay.

origin story #2

I am both
the stem and the seed
of a shadow and its echo.

origin story #3

Allah
spilled my shadow into silhouette
before black became goth
before black become gone.

origin story #4

I am the black
before blackboards
ever spoke through chalk.

Asli is a part-time closet poet with a closet full of poems and a full-time poet of Somali descent from Canada. She received both her BA in Anthropology and MA in Human Geography from Carleton University. She is a student of Islam and self-care. This is her first publication.

MICRO

To Be a Body

By H. MELT

to be a body / no body / sees

MICRO

Wormhole is just another word

By MELISSA MOORER

Wormhole is just another word for woman or girl.

MICRO

Auntie Assata

By DAMARIS B. HILL

We know revolution is a thorn studded fruit tree fenced in barbed wire painted to look like roses.