Jill McDonough
#notallluchadors

Jill McDonough - #notallluchadors

Poetry
Jill McDonough’s books of poems include Habeas Corpus (Salt, 2008), Where You Live (Salt, 2012), and Reaper (Alice James, 2017). The recipient of three Pushcart prizes and fellowships from the… Read more »
Shane Griffin
Abandoned Kiddie Pool

Shane Griffin - Abandoned Kiddie Pool

Poetry
Shane Griffin is a graduate student at Iowa State University’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and the Environment. He is an award-winning poet and his non-fiction has appeared in… Read more »
Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson
Ode to the White Lady Who Asked to Touch My Hair

Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson - Ode to the White Lady Who Asked to Touch My Hair

Poetry
Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson is an MFA candidate at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Salamander, Río Grande Review, and Sugar House Review, among others. She’s… Read more »
Len Lawson
Plan B

Len Lawson - Plan B

Poetry
Len Lawson is the author of the chapbook Before the Night Wakes You (Finishing Line Press) and editor of Hand in Hand: Poets Respond to Race (Muddy Ford Press). He is a PhD student in English… Read more »
Andrea Ruggirello
Proof

Andrea Ruggirello - Proof

Poetry
Andrea Ruggirello lives in Washington, DC by way of Seoul, New York, Boston, and West Virginia. Her writing has been published or is forthcoming in Third Coast, Day One, Catapult, and other journals.… Read more »
Madeleine Wattenberg
Reconfiguration

Madeleine Wattenberg - Reconfiguration

Poetry
Madeleine Wattenberg’s work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Best New Poets 2017, Fairy Tale Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and Mid-American Review.… Read more »
Callista Buchen
Tornado

Callista Buchen - Tornado

Poetry
Callista Buchen is the author of the chapbooks The Bloody Planet (Black Lawrence Press, October 2015) and Double-Mouthed (winter 2016, dancing girl press). Her work appears in Harpur Palate, Puerto… Read more »
Holly Mitchell
Turning Out (The First Year)

Holly Mitchell - Turning Out (The First Year)

Poetry
Holly Mitchell is a poet from Kentucky. A winner of an Amy Award from Poets & Writers and a Gertrude Claytor Prize from the Academy of American Poets, she earned an MFA in Creative Writing from… Read more »
Florence Weinberger
We’ve Taken Care of Everything

Florence Weinberger - We’ve Taken Care of Everything

Poetry
Florence Weinberger was born in New York City, raised in the Bronx, educated at Hunter College, California State University, Northridge, and UCLA, and has worked as a teacher, legal investigator, and… Read more »

Ode to the White Lady Who Asked to Touch My Hair

Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson

Your hands! The busyness of them! Flitting to and fro
as cool as hummingbirds. Hungry and blithe, they move quickly,
lapping up the nectar in each curl: coconut and olive oil.

You pull away and your skin is slick with grease—
anointed. Those blessed hands! They weren’t prepared for this
baptism. How my coils embraced your chalky fingertips,

leaving them wet and glistening. How the smell of my honey
will be under your nails for days. How for weeks you’ll
sigh and wonder why your palms are slippery as you slide

your hands across the surface of your unfettered white body.
All of this before I even have the chance to grant permission—
while the dust of your request still lingers in the air. White lady,

this ode is not really for you, but for every wild and native curl
that hates the hot house, thriving in the meadow of my afro:
those African daisies! those black-eyed Susans! those forget-me-nots
and morning glories!
Read more »