Poetry

The natural

By Chimwemwe Undi
More peace than politics, forgo the heat  / and hostile alkali for what curls itself out of me /   / dense as the hardwood, as the closed and tense  / fist,...

Be/st Frie/nds

By Brianne Battye
Cross-legged in rows on sleeping bags. When asked, her Truths don’t excite.  / They shrug, unconcerned, make fishtails in her waist-length hair.  /   / But maybe this is why they wear...

Locks

By Seren Gagne
he pulls out a stick of eyeliner,  / his rat tail has bloomed / into locks  / thick as dark feathers /   / delicately he draws  / a thin black line ...

road race, Christmas day (for Alex Decoteau)

By Benjamin Hertwig
i. / a photo, 1910. / Edmonton before / the war. / some version / of the same cold / streets. / same regiment. / Alex Decoteau’s eyes are closed. / one...

Examination

By Tracy Hamon
In which position is the comb held when tapering the hair with clippers?  / a)    above the wingspan of a northern harrier / b)    below a gifted actor’s sheared eyebrows / c)  ...

Cadence, Country, Silence

By Chloë Catán
Night catch in the Atacama  / is Brancusi’s sleeping muse.  / My dad’s panama hat / is extinct. /   / Bats swim face down  / swaying in the sea. The note ...

Feral

By Keri Cheechoo
Adopted kids / Those adopted kids / Or them / That was us /   / People were gruff / Didn’t realize / Care / We were children /   / With...

Love(lessly)

By Lesley Belleau
Without the words wasted words all those words and nights I poured myself into you. Thirty seven and I handed the pulp of my heart, sacrificed it on your pulpit, watched it...

gishpin, eta

By Vera Wabegijig
resurgence / regeneration / indigenous revival / it’s all about survival /   / from below we follow cyber trails / uplink to the milky way via smoke trails     / downlink...