November 29th, 2020
The Dirty Truth About Butterflies
It’s easy for a religiously bred
(misled) girl to make an Eden of
a garden, angels of winged soon dead,
repopulating in three weeks. But love’s
amino acids butterflies won’t find
in agapanthus nectar, waterfalls —
Continue reading “Womannotated – The Dirty Truth About Butterflies”
Sometimes you remove all those sheets,
rescue me- all wet, requiring
an emergency mouth to mouth.
Those are the days I give you all my pears,
all those things bothering me
and turning shiny with my blood.
Continue reading ““Hex” by Kushal Poddar”
In A Kidney Dish
Seventeen months and six days ago,
with practice that could only be attached
to a pair of nitrile gloves,
they pulled apart generations of stratified tissue,
classified the human from the mammal
and presented the results on a stainless steel tray.
Imagine Gertrude Stein Sees
A Blue Nipple
the ten month old
pushes out, pulls in sucks
Does substitution satisfy*
no there there.
Continue reading “Imagine Gertrude Stein Sees by Mare Leonard”
For Marco
You’re fifteen, you’re trembling. The only working street light flickers and omits an ominous orange glow. Everything else is dark–the night, the thoughts in your head, the gun in your hand. The car slows as you approach the corner. There they are, Uncle Joe whispers, tonight you become a man.
Continue reading “Bar Mitzvah by Brett Dixon”
Menstrual Blood
Jesus bled menstrual blood from
the wound that gave birth.
Out of his side, a gaping vulnerability,
inviting a finger, a mouth,
a community baptised.
Continue reading “Menstrual Blood by Gavin D’Costa”
On Blood
The blood I scrub from the inside of my underwear is not the same as the blood I wipe from my mouth, not the same blood my mother lost when laboring over my birth, not what spilled from my grandmother’s head when her stepfather split it open for scrubbing a floor wrong. Not the same, but close.
Continue reading “On Blood by Kaylie Padgett”
Burn the Bloodstream
How can an odorless, yellow pill bring harm?
Every time you say no to food, you say yes to thin.
One felt good so she took another,
Eat clean, look lean.
not knowing two were an overdose.
Greasy fries or skinny thighs?
Continue reading “Burn the Bloodstream by Emma Lee”
Watching the World Fly By
The clock chimed seven …ding…ding…ding… and so on, until it let out one final loud ding that woke Forbes with a start. He shuffled slightly and managed to stretch his front and back legs just enough to prevent the cramp from setting in. He meowed happily as he heard the familiar whirring sound. His morning feed came shooting through the food hatch and plopped into his dish in a brown lumpy mush.
Continue reading “Watching The World Fly By by Melanie Davies”
Blood Magic
It was her first period for three months. Sitting on the lav with her knickers around her ankles and her knees falling apart, Mihaela saw the new slimness in her bare legs and grimaced. She thought of all the meals she’d missed since the promotion—the rushed breakfasts, the uneaten sandwiches, the insubstantial dinners—and how quickly it had become a matter of finding not the time but the inclination. Now she ate as irregularly and as little as she slept. No wonder her periods had stopped.
Continue reading “Blood Magic by Natasha C. Calder”
Effusion
Vincent Castiglia paints with his own blood.
Before you decide this is revolting,
you might want to try it yourself.
Don’t go to the extreme though:
The Last Time It Bled
the last time I bled was when I stood on glass
the worst time I bled was when they put the scissors in my vagina
Continue reading “The Last Time It Bled by Emma SzH”
DISEASES OF THE BLOOD
5q- syndrome, Aagenaes syndrome, Abdominal aortic aneurysm, Abetalipoproteinemia, Acatalasemia, Aceruloplasminemia, Acquired agranulocytosis, Acquired hemophilia […]
Continue reading “DISEASES OF THE BLOOD by Louis Armand”
Denial in Cycles
girl born altered doomed a beast
the moon dies and
i’m not bleeding like i’m supposed to
Continue reading “Denial in Cycles by Mika Hrejsa”
Reflections on Jacob’s Ladder (1957) – Helen Frankenthaler
Continue reading “Jacob’s Ladder by Katherine Beaman”
One Day Mother
When cramps come,
With knotted stomach sickness
And hours curled
I remember one week of knowing you,
The children you named,
Those who’d have,
My eyes
And your hair.
Continue reading “One Day Mother by Eden Howard”
BURNING HOUSE PRESS 