I N V E R T E D
THE FISSURED TONGUE SERIES
“Certainty I" by Lisa Berley, mixed media, 22 x 30 inches, 2013.
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Fissured Tongue | Volume Two This volume "contains themes of justice and loss, memory and embodiment, attempts to respect and understand the past as we move into an updated future, even if some days it's hard to see beyond tomorrow." Read Jesica Davis's Letter from the Editor on Fissured Volume Two. Cover Art “Certainty I" by Lisa Berley, mixed media, 22 x 30 inches, 2013. |
In this Volume
peruse below or check out our pdf version
peruse below or check out our pdf version
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Maria Takolander
Four poems Discover Maria's Takolander's Four poems, including an elegiacal poem that uses the rogue form of a cyclical chart to reflect on the repetitive nature of daily routines. |
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Moachiba Jamir
“Kindred” [...]“she had borne children but they could never live up to the reputation of her sister’s children who lived in the city—just like she could never live up to her father’s expectations, just like she could never be fully loved by her father no matter what she did, just like she was remembered only by the name of her sister Lapunaro—her own name lost in her father’s sea of failures, him refusing to rescue it. It was better this way, she had always comforted herself, it did not even matter, she used to say to pacify her anger, but it did, it did to her and she hated him every day for it.” |
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Devynity Wray
“BRIGHT” “ I’m Betty Shabazz with a blazer on and the bang out Queen Latifah in the role of Cleo finna bang out Sojourner in my truth aint I a woman? We got the same mouth I’m Harriet – rifle close to my side ready to aim out” |
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Jordan Anderson
Five poems "my skin is not any thicker than yours, i don’t think. and when i skin my knee at recess in first grade, nurse candy shouldn't dub my tears crocodile" -- from le rêve américain Jordan's poems boldly address the body and trauma. The writer explores myths about the Black body, crushes, and sex trafficking. |
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Michael Hatcher
"Some languages need not be translated" A veteran of poetry slam, Michael has represented several Dallas and Fort Worth area slam teams four times at the National Poetry Slam and served as slam master on the Inkwell Slam Team for two years. "My writing is my best attempt at bending or altering the boundaries placed on words." |
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Jonan Pilet
"Locusts" “Gan used his thumb to stuff more of the bugs into an empty soda bottle. After a few days the locusts that remained would slow; they would stop moving completely. They lived longer by staying motionless. And in the bottle, they’d stay fresh. But for now, they vibrated the plastic with life. Gan grabbed a locust and held it to Zorig. 'What if something’s snatching us up? Just like the locusts?' ” Pilet wrote “Locusts” when revisiting his childhood home of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in the summer of 2019. He noticed that the children that had lived in the sewers were no longer around the city. So he asked around to try to figure out what had happened. "Locusts" is based on the stories he was told. |
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Danielle Ferrara
Two poems “Only when the door appears do floors mutate. At first there were only the windows, changing landscapes so that I would not remember any of them.” |
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Mary-Pat Buss
“ Stable” “An older man stood over me. A bird landed on his shoulder. He was explaining to my mother that there had been a mistake. My morphine feed had not been hooked up properly. A day and a half had passed and no medication had reached me.” |
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Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith
Two poems “I only took drugs when they were offered at parties by others who were doing drugs too. I only like faded rugs at parties, their sharp colors remind me of friends who leave.” |
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Sarah Berbank Green
"Karin, in Four Parts" “ I wanted to engage with a character from the inside out, sifting through the fragments of her inner and outer worlds, passions, memories, and misconceptions in order to explore the way in which the narratives we build around our personal experiences shape, color, and sometimes distort our perception of ourselves and our place in the world.” |
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Giles Goodland
Two poems “a bird speaks its bright notion, in its beak it cannot be song, it bears too much that has just this side of occurred: the derivative rain,” |
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Joshua G. Adair
“ Those Who Cant” “ I learned the word “effeminate” as a third-grader; it was 1985 and I was not yet 9. From the moment I heard it, I was convinced it was a curse, something no one should say – and I wondered why I had never heard it before. It escaped the mouth of Mrs. Ross, one of my two third grade teachers, and I knew she intended it to insult me [...] I was not that kid, however, because I had been a target for a long time; I also, on occasion, adopted the affect of a forty-year-old. Queer kids learn to do that early, once they realize they are ‘different.’ ” |
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Becca Barniskis
Five Poems from the “ Large Soft Woman” series About “Large Soft Woman” poems, Becca writes that they “explore through voice and character the oppression of women as a material condition of capitalism; they also make visible the ways women do or can seize power in various ways. I am interested in all the ways women appear and disappear in daily life and discourse and have found the label “Large Soft Woman” helpful in this regard.” |
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Eva Olivier
“Karina and the Total Dick Move” “Karina perched on the edge of a stained couch and pretended to sip her beer. Across the dimly lit room, a half-wasted Brie snuggled up with Elias. Karina had to admit he was pretty gorgeous, but a prick was still a prick — no matter how good it looked, it’d still blast you in the eye when you least expected it. Karina forced herself not to scowl as Elias wrapped an arm around Brie and boasted about his family’s beach house on the Outer Banks.” |
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Thomas Maurstad
“ Lucky Man” About “ Lucky Man,” Thomas writes, "We are living through an age of anxiety and overload, and as both an artist and a citizen, my existential challenge is to stay connected and to disconnect. When does connection become obsession? When does disconnection become denial? I want my writing to be of my time; I don’t want it to be about my time." |
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Bob Gossom
“I watch the eagle” Back on shore I go to the shed and take the small pick On the ice again I chop at the surface It cracks a little but I mar the hard ice I don’t stop until the dead catfish cannot be seen |
