ROOM 46.2: Ley Line Sneak Peek

River 瑩瑩 Dandelion

Step into the in-between with a sneak peek from ROOM 46.2: Ley Line.

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Introduction

by RIVER 瑩瑩 DANDELION


here, we change our name when we feel called

       come together by life’s path     not age

             people concerned with         self-remembrance death

                          lactose intolerance


we use pronouns of animacy & inanimacy

       not masculine & feminine

             like how robin does in potawatomi


we smashed all clocks

       threw debris into compost machine

             rediscovered eternity in rice field terraces

                        of our fingertips


                                                                 bodies grew to redwoods.


we don’t have many words for
becoming
      memories etched to paper need not be
drawing
             reviving forgotten stories need not make
writer
      bud to
flower, just another stage
                     of
transformation


                                         free to be
metamorphosis.

we listen to each other
             how we listen to rising tides

                              in conch shells


                 cradle body gently

                               eyes flutter closed

                  let vibrations
                                        unravel seams.


at night we hug our bodies

          whisper
good job today
                    tumultuously soft like ocean

                    fauna of life, crackling coral of wonder


                                        sleep comes easy.


children, geniuses from small

          know intuition

                    & safety young


                              we stopped hurting as much.


rage buried to soil

          anger dissipated in atmosphere


          after the universe scattered

                    we searched

              & fell into gravitational force


                 returned in waves

                              just like nayyirah says how water loves


          palm lines           strings of guitar

          vocal chords           symphony

          heartbeats           earth’s rhythmic bellows


here, we produce our own light

          store & summon it in our bodies

                    incandescent, like plankton.

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Don’t forget to grab a copy of  ROOM 46.2: Ley Line.

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“Introduction” by RIVER 瑩瑩 DANDELION was first published in ROOM 46.2: Ley Line. Copyright © 2023 by RIVER 瑩瑩 DANDELION.

River 瑩瑩 Dandelion is a practitioner of ancestral medicine through writing poetry, facilitating, and creating ceremony. He writes to connect with the unseen and unspoken so we can feel and heal. A Tin House resident and Kundiman fellow, River has traveled to Chinatowns around the world to document stories of diaspora. riverdandelion.com.

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ROOM 47.4 FULL CIRCLE
Step back with Room into the past, to parents, to childhood homes, and to people once known and loved; dig into themes of grief and healing; and ultimately explore what it means to come full circle in literature.

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