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Who am I

Who am I

“And if you are not a bird, then beware of coming to rest above an abyss.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche Not an addict but a deflowered thorn, a queen of spades with a punch-hole. A birthday present unwrapped too quickly. Not a junkie but someone who’s put hope in the washer...

10 years to yes

10 years to yes

this is my third war* may 2009 if you can’t see me does it mean I don’t exist yes if you see me but you don’t see what makes me me does it mean you don’t see me yes if you cannot see that the thing that makes me me hurts burns ashes all over if you cannot see me shall...

Satiate

Satiate

This is what I can tell you: On a June night in 1986, my mother drinks from a tall glass of ice water. The radio might be on. If it is on, she is listening to Patti or Luther or The Pointer Sisters or Whitney. She might be singing, voice off-key but still rising...

for my sister

for my sister

it’s a drunkintheafternoon kind of day wrung out acronyms come up on my keyboard instead of my sister’s name it’s a drunkintheafternoon kind of day wrung out acronyms come up on my keyboard instead of my sister’s name this is the place of the abbreviated    form...

Dust

Dust

he traces the tattoo of Africa on my back tells me how he wants to go back to Sierra Leone he traces the tattoo of Africa on my back tells me how he wants to go back to Sierra Leone I want to ask him how he can love a mother land that chewed and spit him out like...

Baby Food

Baby Food

“Baby Food” is the honourable mention of Room’s Short Forms Contest 2018 as selected by judge Hiromi Goto. We called it baby food. We were secretive and gleeful. At fourteen, we’d outrun our periods—literally—clomping down Kimberly Hill with such exaggerated...

Shortlisted Writers from our 2018 Short Forms Contest!

Shortlisted Writers from our 2018 Short Forms Contest!

We're excited to announce the shortlist from our 2018 Short Forms Contest! Here are the six shortlisted short forms pieces, as selected by our esteemed judge Hiromi Goto. We're excited to announce the shortlist from our 2018 Short Forms Contest! Here are the six...

Thrust Into My Wilderness

Thrust Into My Wilderness

I wring the sweat and earth from my dewy fingers and flick open my app. A dick pic. Finally. It is a birdsong in the boughs. I gasp. Smile. Spotted. At last. My soft white legs brush against each other like kindling begging for a spark. It is July, hot late afternoon....

Still Fighting

Still Fighting

The same folks who believe racism only exists in the past will tell you patriarchal misogyny is obsolete and men now suffer because women hold all of the cards. The same folks who believe racism only exists in the past will tell you patriarchal misogyny is obsolete...

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