Originals: National Poetry Month 2023

"In a Museum of Deadly Sins" by Su Hwang:
"Must never peer away from the gluttony / of art: busts of greedy men, marbled // torsos, still lifes, women made to be / bogles of lust."
 

"Parousia" by Virginia Konchan: 
"Why would I expect a tired employee, / overworked, uninsured, and underpaid, / to devise a surefire exit plan from hell?" 

"To the Formless God" by Rajiv Mohabir:
"By mid-morning the grey fog burns off Biscayne Bay. // Land surfaces, a silver glint under the veil."
***listen to Mohabir read his poem over on The Rumpus Instagram!*** 

"Convergent Evolution" by Kenzie Allen:
"In a city of seven hills, / you told me once, there is no fate— // kismet: a coincidence / we mistake for grand design."

"Send Nudes" by Ally Ang: 
"Though the world ended, desire / did not. In the absence of touch, / our imaginations spilled over / like watercolors."
 

"SLC PUNK!" by Ruben Quesada:
"The last time we parted, I looked past you / as snow banked along the curb."