I N V E R T E D
The Fissured Tongue Series
“The Thorns of Anxiety" by Ann Wong WanYee. Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm, 2024
Fissured Tongue Volume VI Contributors: Crista Reid | Laura Gamache | Wendy BooydeGraaff and Susan Wider | Tim Carrier | Marie Williamson | Tor Strand | Mary Herrington Perry | brice maiurro | Amy Haddad | Carla Schick | Cady Favazzo | Dana Tenille Weekes | Janice Heiss | Jennifer Griffiths Orudjev | Serge Lecomte | Michael Thompson | Ann Wong WanYee | Robb Kunz | Velibor Baćo | Ruhi Jiwani
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Welcome to Fissured Tongue Volume VI
Volume VI is a whole vibe—it can be read as a meditation on how we hold on when the world feels broken. From Weekes’ love illusions that feels that love is but a liar and flips the script on affection, to Perry haunting us with memory’s shadows. And where Reid’s chaos is a body’s language, Haddad’s illness is painted with quiet light, "with the illusion of life," and Carrier, whose work moves through intimate spaces of friendship, language and spirituality, unfolds as a meditation on how connection is a form of resilience. You cannot help but hear Tim Carrier's confrontation with what it means to exist in this world, reminding us that art must be a straight-up act of resistance. And that’s just a glimpse into some of the pieces in this volume. Indeed, Fissured Tongue Volume VI speaks to the complexity and fragility of being, while also suggesting that when we connect, witness, and name, that these are the ways by which we can resist using the arts. Ready to feel something? Dive in. Vibe out. Fissured Tongue Volume VI is curated and edited by Nawal Nader-French, Editor, and Jesica Davis, Editor Work was selected by Yesica Mirambeaux, Allissa Balint, EA Midnight, Melanie Merle, Nawal Nader-French, and Jesica Davis |
“errantry" by J G Orudjev. Mixed media collage, 5 x 7 inches, 2022
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Cortisol Ain’t Love But a Liar
by Dana Tenille Weekes Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025
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“Split the Difference" by Robb Kunz. Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches, 2024
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by M. H. Perry Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 "You understand that this is Indiana? The land ravaged by the mining company is now
grown up with grass and studded with lakes the migrating waterfowl come to rest in between flights. While the visiting nurse looks after my son, I drive out here to photograph the birds."
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"Covidia" by Michael Thompson.
Mixed media, 18 x 11 inches, 2021
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untitled remember: a revolution
by brice maiurro Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 "[...] social change is a spiral, rather than the linear climb I had hoped it was in my younger years. That being said, I believe in revolution and that it changes us and the world around us, and that inspired these words." --from the writer's process
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"Wait" by Ann Wong WanYee. Oil on canvas, 20 x 20 cm, 2023
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White-Winged Dove's Song
by Wendy BooydeGraaff & Susan Wider Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 "Wendy and Susan have a regular habit of phone calls to discuss writing. Susan is often watching her outdoor bird feeders during these calls and cannot resist commenting on the bird visitors. One day she tried to describe a white-winged dove. Wendy mentioned later that she couldn't stop thinking about the bird. Her thoughts became poetry and Susan replied with nonfiction snippets about the doves." --from the writer's process
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"Ripe Fruit" by Serge Lecomte. Acrylic on canvas, 22 x 24 inches, 2023
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Don't You Know All You Need is Sky
by Tor Strand Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 "Full on & fast around the corners, my father always took them with ease,
jolting but in it, unwaveringly there in the high part of the mind just behind his hairline which isn’t all too bad for a man in his late 60s. He is almost to Whitehorse."
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"Untitled (Bird)" by Michael Thompson. Mono-print,
18 x 12 inches, 2018
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Look At a Bird by Tim Carrier Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 "You are my friend who says, Look at a mountain. Look at a bird— in new poems.
The L of your name was once a lion. Then a mouth. A raised arm. Then a staff. Its shape imparting direction to the animals & the land."
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"Alone my gentle friend has left me" by Ann Wong WanYee. Oil on canvas,
70 x 50 cm, 2024
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Two Poems:
What If Love Could be Found Sitting in the Basement of a Bookstore? & I have always loved by Carla Schick Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 " 'What If Love Could be Found Sitting in the Basement of a Bookstore?' was inspired by a poem by Timothy Liu, who was inspired by Hafez. During my adolescence I would sit in the basement of a bookstore on 5th Ave in New York and read poems, as though I were stealing words. I didn’t have the money to buy books and reading it in the bookstore seemed much more daring than going to the library (which I also did frequently). During this time I also grappled with the loneliness of being a queer, but not out, youth who found comfort in poetry and language." --from the writer's process
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"Untitled as my soul" by Velibor Baćo. Mixed media, digital, 2024
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Fortune Cookies
by Janice Heiss Fissured Tongue Series Vol VI | May 2025 "Your best friend ran 10 miles per day, the week before she jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.
You wonder why people drop things that break. You will never keep a boyfriend longer than a car. You dream in black and white because it’s cheaper."
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