la vida opresiva by Zander Moreno Lozano

poet kills bird

poetry by Nicholas Barnes

a seventh-grade boychild plods around the backyard.

in his flowerbed periphery: a twitching, stuttering movement.

a mini chirper, either a sparrow or a bluebird.

petite from afar, though up close, puffed like a parrot pea.

trapping air under velveteen down, birdie was cold, birdie was in poor shape.

craven twelve-year-old hands held the tiny critter in noonday rays,

stroking its ethereal gossamer, its hollowed-out osseous parts.

how he tried to shake it back to its senses, to rouse it from its pained dying.

the light in there was waning, its eyes were in its head.

floating over to the woodshed, an ax materialized in the boy’s grip.

strolling toward the suffering in earnest, the question hung above his crown.

but eventually, it came down, and found its answer.

little fella disappeared into a veil of feathers.

it was one hell of a euthanasia.

no undo button, no rewind: the tape’s all eaten up.

a stradivarius out of tune, out of time, in potting soil splinters.

no shoebox nurse, no animal hospital.

only a syringe plunged, a glass bottle emptied.

just some jeweled remains in shallow earth, wings clipped in perpetuity.

he robbed something from the sky and put it in the ground forever.

from that day on, his feet never felt heavier.

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entomb’d in the oppressive walls of lovers galls, sick and twist’d in the grotesque scene of society. what looming do a loner practice on his day of sorrow, ne’er in the glee of what lies in tomorrow. as he lies, facing the oppressive walls of a shuck’d bedroom. shuffling on the conveyor belt, pick’d and prickle’d with intent to breed, la vida opresiva

poetry by Zander Moreno Lozano

we a bastard children whose grimace teeters on the compulse of imposing. what imposition of worldly policing do our pork belly’d politicians fornicate unto us. as trickery do a good man shame, where the shame in creatures of our own?

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Contributors

Shams Alkamil believes in holding space for Black neurodivergents. She is SudaneseAmerican and spent summers in the Middle East. She published the chapbook West 24th Street (Lulu Press, 2022) to highlight the impact a location has on trauma. Her work has appeared in Mizna, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Writer Con 2022, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Melissa Morano Aurigemma is a writer, artist, and doctoral candidate studying phenomenology. She is lives in Italy and New York. Instagram:@mmzaurigemma Website: melissamoranoaurigemma.com

Kaitlyn Bancroft is a reporter with KSL.com in Salt Lake City, Utah. Previous and forthcoming publication credits include Hole In The Head Review, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Ocotillo Review, The Dread Machine, and Fleas on the Dog. Twitter: @katbancroft Instagram:@katbancroftreports.

Nicholas Barnes earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Southern Oregon University. He is currently working as an editor in Portland, and enjoys music, museums, movie theaters, and rain. His least favorite season is summer. His favorite soda is RC Cola.

James Kimo Bitoy is a Creative Writing student currently pursuing his BA at San Francisco State University. Born in the Philippines and raised in the East Bay, he finds inspiration in capturing oral stories and blending it into his writing.

A. Cabrera’s stories and memoir pieces about the intersection between family, addiction and mental illness have appeared in Brain,Child Magazine, Berkeley Fiction Review, The New Guard, Litro and other literary publications. Her work has been

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nominated for a Pushcart Award and adapted for stage by the Bay Area Word for Word Theater Company. She writes, teaches, dances and otherwise lives in San Francisco, CA.

Michaela Chairez is a poet from the Inland Empire. She holds a BA in English from Cal State Fullerton and is currently pursuing an MA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University.

Hazel M. Cherry has a zest for contemplative life. Captivated by art, nature, and the senses, she is a multi-genre storyteller who seeks to empower women to love themselves and chart their spiritual paths with authenticity and freedom. Hazel obtained her Master’s in Divinity from Howard University School of Divinity (2015) & an MFA in Creative Writing from American University (2022). In the summer of 2022, she welcomed her first child. Currently, she is enjoying motherhood and working on her first poetry collection.

Amy Cook (she/they) is an MFA candidate at Pacific Lutheran University (Rainier Writing Workshop), and participated in the 2021 Kenyon Review Writers Workshop in Creative Nonfiction. Her work has been featured in thirteen literary journals, magazines and anthologies, including the Jewish Literary Journal (October 2022), From the Waist Down: the body in healthcare, Papeachu Press (July 2022) and Arriving at a Shoreline (great weather for MEDIA, August 2022). She was a finalist for the 2023 ProForma competition (Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts) and a Finalist for the Disruptors Contest (TulipTree Publishing, 2021).

Cook is an award-winning lyricist (BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement) whose work has been heard at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway (Easter Bonnet Competition, 2010), the Metropolitan Room and the Algonquin Salon.

She is the Legal Administrative Manager of Lambda Legal. Amy was a charter member of the Youth Pride Chorus (2003), as well as a singing and associate member of the

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New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. She holds a B.A. in Political Science, summa cum laude, with Distinction, from Rider University. Outside of her professional work, Amy is also a spin junkie and a marathoner. She is married to lyricist Patrick Cook.

William C. Crawford is a prolific itinerant photographer based in Winston Salem, NC.

RC deWinter’s poetry is widely anthologized, notably in New York City Haiku (NY Times, 2/2017), easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles, (Patrick Heath Public Library of Boerne, 11/2021) The Connecticut Shakespeare Festival Anthology (River Bend Bookshop Press, 12/2021), in print: 2River, Event, Gargoyle Magazine, Genre Urban Arts the minnesota review, Night Picnic Journal, Plainsongs, Prairie Schooner, Southword, The Ogham Stone, Twelve Mile Review, York Literary Review among many others and appears in numerous online literary journals.

Nimisha Doongarwal is a mixed media artist. Her conceptually layered pieces combine painting, photography, fabric, and digital prints which explore varying relationships between past and popular culture, by referencing social issues such as racism, immigration, and gender inequality. Each image tells a unique story, creating visual links to current and historical events in time. Through her work, her goal is to give a voice to social issues faced by women and people of color; to encourage viewers to embrace cultural diversity and step up for equality for all. Nimisha has been featured in publications and magazines such as Forbes, Maake magazine, Artmarket magazine and has exhibited in museums and galleries including the De Young Museum, San Francisco Airport, Museum of Northern California, and Brown University.

Adrian Jose Fernandez is a Latin American poet and published writer. He is currently editing his first collection of poems which will be titled To Whoever Might've Stolen My Computer while working at The Pacifica Tribune covering city council meetings.

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Michael Gallagher is an Irish-Mexican poet from Oakland, California currently earning their MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State. They have published three books of poetry. Gallagher earned their undergrad degree at California College of the Arts, studying under poets such as Ishmael Reed, Joseph Lease, and Gloria Frym. They have attended writer's residencies at Arquetopia in Oaxaca, Mexico and CAMP FR in Toulouse, France. Gallagher is an awardee of the Steven Kowit Poetry Prize and the Daniel Langton poetry Prize. They grew up competing in spoken word poetry at Youth Speaks and Brave New Voices representing team Stockton. Gallagher is currently working on a style of poetry called California Gothic.

Alaura Garcia (b. 2003) is a photographer and fine artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a very, very proud woman of African-American & Puerto Rican descent.

Shaun Garlick is a 22-year old queer writer based in San Francisco. They are attending San Francisco State University, studying to get their BA in Creative Writing.

Caitlin Torres Graham is an artist and therapist living in the bay area. She works with a variety of mediums including watercolor, pen and ink and block printing. The content of Caitlin's artwork is highly influenced by surrealism and Latinx folk art. Caitlin's work is not only a reflection of her culture, surroundings and world view, but also as an outlet for processing trauma, emotions and identity.

Tayah Groat is a language assistant currently working in Spain that studied Spanish and education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is 24 year old from York, Pennsylvania. You can also find her work in the New York Times Modern Love column under the tiny love stories.

Daniel Gonzalez was born in Anaheim, California, and earned his MFA in Creative Writing from CSULB, where he served as the senior editor of Fiction for RipRap

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Journal. He has written an award-wining short film Matty Groves and has short fiction & poetry published in ANGLES magazine, About Place Journal, Allium, and WhimsicalPoet. He enjoys playing with his dog and writing about morality, death, and those small human moments which we all share.

Eliezer Guevara has published several essays in some magazines: Terremoto magazine based in Mexico and San Carlos University from Guatemala faculty of humanities magazines, has read some poetry in some places in Mission district. His writing explores visual arts, philosophy and critical thinking which are his areas of study.

Isra Hassan is a Somali-American essayist and poet based in Minneapolis, MN. Find her @israology everywhere.

Anastasia Doantrinh Lê is a Vietnamese American poet and printmaker. Her work has appeared in Berkeley Poetry Review, the walls of her former co-op, and a mulberry tree. She has received fellowships from the SF Writers Grotto and the UC Berkeley Arts Research Center. Her favorite color is red. You can find her on Instagram @noturstroganoff.

Zander Moreno Lozano is a gender non-conforming, queer, poet of color currently in the transit of their life, and in attempts to build their poetic repertoire. This past fall, Moreno was named Brooklyn Poet Fellow for study in Imani Cezanne’s workshop on Revolutionary Poetics. Moreno has also been showcased in the likes of Bay area (now East coast based) magazine ARTF*G for his work Cavities (2020). Moreno is the author of a forthcoming book we melt as earth under us (2023), a collection of poems based on love in the perverse and withering capitalistic society.

Michael MacDonald is an artist based in Brooklyn, NY. In 2013 he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in painting. His paintings and drawings depict minute details that hint to a larger, perhaps more bizarre scene. He compulsively

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adds figures, shapes and objects to build a visual catalogue which he regenerates into moments from a missing narrative. Flattened textures with vibrant color take the artist’s hand out of the work just enough so that the viewer has space to interpret and claim a little ownership over MacDonald’s narrative and intent.

Michael Moreth is a recovering Chicagoan living in the micropolitan City of Sterling, the Paris of Northwest Illinois.

Irina Tall (Novikova) is an artist, graphic artist, illustrator. She graduated from the State Academy of Slavic Cultures with a degree in art, and also has a bachelor's degree in design.

The first personal exhibition "My soul is like a wild hawk" (2002) was held in the museum of Maxim Bagdanovich. In her works, she raises themes of ecology, in 2005 she devoted a series of works to the Chernobyl disaster, draws on anti-war topics. The first big series she drew was The Red Book, dedicated to rare and endangered species of animals and birds. Writes fairy tales and poems, illustrates short stories. She draws various fantastic creatures: unicorns, animals with human faces, she especially likes the image of a man - a bird - Siren. In 2020, she took part in Poznań Art Week. Her work has been published in magazines: Gupsophila, Harpy Hybrid Review, Little Literary Living Room and others. In 2022, her short story was included in the collection "The 50 Best Short Stories", and her poem was published in the collection of poetry "The wonders of winter".

Bianca Pasquinelli is Italian, from Milan. She graduated with honours in Communication and Advertising at IULM University and worked in the entertainment industry for many years. In the past year, she has devoted herself to pursuing writing and translating. She has recently won the Italian literary contest “Professione viaggiatore,” by Rudis Edizioni.

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Robert Pettus is an English as a Second Language teacher at the University of Cincinnati. Previously, he taught for four years in a combination of rural Thailand and Moscow, Russia. He was most recently accepted for publication at Allegory Magazine, The Horror Tree, JAKE magazine, The Night Shift podcast, Libretto publications, White Cat Publications, Culture Cult, Savage Planet, Short-Story.me, White-Enso, Tall Tale TV, The Corner Bar, A Thin Line of Anxiety, Schlock!, Black Petals, Inscape Literary Journal of Morehead State University, Yellow Mama, Apocalypse-Confidential, Mystery Tribune, Blood Moon Rising, and The Green Shoes Sanctuary. “A Chemical Spritz” is one of the stories he recently wrote.

Stephanie Pritchard received her MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in creative writing with a concentration in poetry. She teaches in the English and Creative Writing department at the State University of New York at Oswego and is the recipient of the Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence. Her poems have appeared in publications such as Stone Canoe, The River, Ink Babies, Better Than Starbucks, Book of Matches, MASKS, and other places.

Noreia Rain is your fingers so close to the flame that your teeth clench tight, but you don't pull back because this work requires fire.

Her writing and artwork have appeared in The Ana and Transfer Magazine, as well as in the April 2022 issue of Vast Chasm. Her poem “bitten” was featured in Wingless Dreamer's 2021 Halloween Anthology. She is currently seeking a publisher for her poetry collections, The Yellow Inbetween and The Aftertaste of Rain. You can find her on Twitter as @NoreiaRainWords, and as noreia_rain_words on Instagram.

Chyna Robeson (they/she) is a plant biologist and artist currently residing in Oakland, CA. They graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in genetics and plant biology and have created art of many mediums throughout their life. Through her work, Chyna

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enjoys combining abstraction with realism and they are heavily influenced by their dreams, emotions, queer community, and everyday aspects of the world around them.

Yvette A. Schnoeker-Shorb is the author of the chapbook, Shapes That Stay (Kelsay Books, 2021). Her poetry has appeared in The Midwest Quarterly, Switchback, Earth’s Daughters, Weber: The Contemporary West, About Place Journal, High Desert Journal, Clockhouse, AJN: The American Journal of Nursing, Terrain.org, Slipstream, and elsewhere. She holds an interdisciplinary MA and has served in various capacities as an educator, a researcher, and an editor, and is cofounder of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Native West Press.

Clara Sperow (she/they) is a writer, multimedia artist, and educator who loves making and writing about desserts, joy-centered memories, & queer love and home. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English & Creative Writing and she is currently earning her MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University.

Cecilia Stelzer is a poet, painter, and editor living in Brooklyn, NY. They received their M.A. in creative writing from Eastern Michigan University. They currently work as a gallery administrator at The Painting Center and an assistant at Book Post. They also intern with Segue Foundation and volunteer at The Poetry Project.

Elisha Taylor is a resident of the famous Rivertown, Antioch California, where he lives with his mother, father and younger brother.

Lucas Tonks was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England. He began writing in 2017, focusing on political and cultural critique, touching upon themes of the abject, posthumanism, loss, and boredom. He is an active union organiser, works in a warehouse, and hopes he doesn't end up in academia. He currently resides in Amsterdam, with his wife, Nastya, and his chubby cat, Bolaño.

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Janna Wagner is an MFA candidate at Pacific Lutheran University's Rainier Writing Workshop. She is focusing this year on a grief project, playing with form and lyricism to gently lift the heaviness of grief by focusing on wonder. She writes from a small cabin on her land in Homer, Alaska. She has also been a nurse with Doctors Without Borders since 2014 and also focuses some of her writing on the experiences she has had in the humanitarian world.

Z White, a Bay Area photographer. They have a great passion for travel and exploring as much as possible. Avid coffee drinker with little to no sleep.

Madelyn Yukich was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She is currently a student at San Francisco State University working towards a BA in Creative Writing. She aspires to tell stories that comfort, confuse, and challenge her readers. When she’s not writing, Madelyn enjoys listening to Taylor Swift on repeat, baking too many cookies, and taking her dog on hikes.

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