TWO POEMS

Issue 19 Poetry

EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD

BY ELIZABETH UPSHUR

RIBCAGE POEM

The blankets are heavy and still
[I]
want nothing more than to stay under them. Nest.
[was]
every hour so twisted and wrung? My father 
[told]
us years ago to always be out of the bed by 10 a.m. 
[a]
small edict to shape Saturdays. But today, I do not feel like a
[slayer]
of giants or even lions or bears. Certainly not time. Usually, I am quite self
[possessed]
my schedule enacting tidal change upon my landscape. 
[great]
Walls of water that carry children, whisk dinners out of the oven.
[strength]
in a pretty Southern drawl
[is]
a learned, environmental response. A kicky response to girlhood,
[this]
Blue Willow plate of living. 
[all]
of the traditional meals come with their own side dishes of baggage
[that]
we may either claim or be pelted with. After all, 
[you]
can’t expect something for nothing. Kisses leave lipstick stains, red echoes
[are?]
you sure you remember the formula for removing it?

Eros, a piacere

(at the performer’s pleasure)

love like the green in a sunset.

there, but not the most obvious
to the naked eye, or even my overly
spectacled one (-6.5L, -5.5R)

this is how our love experiences us.
quiet, unassuming, unbothered,
un like a stitch taken out

& the sin is whole again. Un
like an unsent message that gave
you an outlet for your initial anger

but ensuing fear at its shared existence
between sender and receiver—
pure elation at the wisdom of technology to render

15 seconds into the past
obsolete, erased & reset 
to normalcy.

emotions, color, grey, & find equilibrium
like the constant, sheer soprano song 
of thirty-year cicadas. 

Elizabeth Upshur is a Black Southern writer, actress, and guest on Tsalaguwetiyi Land. She serves her literary community as an editor and sensitivity reader at The Seventh Wave. Her poems can be found at Augur, The Fantastic Other, and Sweet Tea Literary Dichotomy. Her speculative flash fiction piece “motherfucker” was awarded the 9th annual Gigantic Sequins prize. Her work has been longlisted by the Granum Foundation in 2022, shortlisted for the 2021 Samuel R. Delaney award for speculative writing, and awarded the Stillhouse Prize. She can be found on Instagram @elizawriteswords
Image Credit: “Stark reality 2dd” by Edward Michael Supranowicz
Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Lithuanian/Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia. He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has had over 700 poems published and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times.