WAT is Zine? Issue 20: Utopia

ISSUE 20 — Utopia Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Meldrum

TEAM LEADS Submissions/Editing Anoushka Gupta Layout Design Rebecca Kempe Art Katie Plant Marketing Crystal Chambers Events Sakshi Bardwaj

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Audrey Nguyen Cassie Lim Catherine Hoang Crystal Chambers Emma Schuster Jared Cubilla

LAYOUT DESIGN Katie Plant Jessie Jiang Jeanne Xu Yuan Liu Chelsea Hettigama Crystal Chambers

Cover art Katie Plant 2

@watiszine | watiszine@gmail.com

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earthly pleasures

- Audrey Nguyen

being barefoot is intimacy/ grass tingling between the toes/nerves firing/ surrounded by the new cold dew/ mornings/ wake you up/wake up with me/ take me with you/ in the softness of green/ fresh carpet catering the footsteps/ each stride sinks lower under its tiny forest/ burrow deeper, closer, faster/ clouds on the grounds/ i float above the earth/ subtle rustling in stories/ and wind/ it’s hard to tell where the roots end/ when ribbons branches tangle up like promise rings to the dactyls/ i promise you/ i’ll go/ wherever/ you go

being barefoot is vulnerability/ no protection/ no layers/ no separations or distance/ just flesh and skin/ meet the scorching/ sand/ summer afternoons/ nerves screaming lava/ danger/ passion/ slicing away the sunscreen/ melted down into candle wax/ no longer strong and tall/ just/ a puddle/ absorbed by the incandescent/ heat/ trillions of particles/ swallowing the toes/ no space/ no gaps left unfilled/ no air/ no knowledge/ of what’s beneath the golden dust/ quicksand or shards/ shells or paper/ both can cut/ but i trust you/ to not/ use/ me

being barefoot is serenity/ water rushing in between the toes/ cool/ capricious/ perpetual waves cuddle the ankles/ time stretches across the horizon/ sunset sun/ lukewarm light/ open sky/ everything feels so easy/ in these golden hours/ aurora skates cross the surface/ no gravity/ weight lifted off my shoulders/ i am no longer burdened by the land/ no longer bothered/ by white noise/ and gibberish/ soundproof chamber/ for the rolling heartbeats/ it’s quiet here/ nerves are silenced/ tsunamis tears dissolved into salty ripples/ bubbles whispers/ burst into almosts/ no one sinks here/ we float

being barefoot is a lot like/ being in love and darling/ i would step on broken glass/ for your rush

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Issue 20 March 2022