Saint/Street (Brenna Alyssa Mahn

Saint/Street (Brenna Alyssa Mahn - New Orleans, LA)

Mercy is strained-estranged-arraigned in a never ending lemniscate. I woke up at 3AM to a cat licking my eyelid. I shivered but at least my eyes are free of flies and I think maybe even planks.

Next morning I pull in to the two floor parking garage- I park on the first and walk through the door on the back of the building. Elevator to fourth floor. Long carpeted hallway with windows that only look into waiting rooms, never escaping the building.

I open heavy glass door, talk to receptionist, get called into appointment. I tell the doctor about what happened to me. She tells me she’s officially adding the letters St next to my name. I ask her what they mean. You’ve been through a lot, she says. I’m not sure whether it means I deserve sainthood for my persecution or just that I’ve been systematically crushed under the world’s wheels for the sake of misplaced pragmatism alone.

Have you ever been to a place where it seems god did not finish creation? A mountain climbs towards the sky then suddenly drops off where he gets distracted. Rivers begin then are swallowed beneath the surface of the earth where he forgot to finish drawing a path for them.

Has it ever occurred to you that there might be people like that? Because sometimes I think I might be one of them.

Comments

Come Hither (Annette Redmond Walters - Lafayette, LA)

I meant it not this way but the tears just flow and my makeup smearing all the more, leaving behind that familiar filthy residue. I may have begun to drive myself away, dragging you down as well. But it's done, I've flipped the switch and now it's dark once more. How painful is the music to my ears, I can't stand to be alone in it, yet here I am again. I pray you fly back and safely and warmly to me, though I fear I've dug the grave too deeply. As the dirt shifts within my soul, I choke on those loving words I'd meant for you. All the fragments of light I see becoming smaller and I wish to be near you in your embrace that might make me feel the warmth I'm missing. And in reality, I doubt I'd breathe another breath without you. So come hither and quickly soothe my dying heart, you are the only cure I know. I cry and cry again, come hither to heal and love me. Come hither and help me dry my tears.

Let That Fucker Burn (John Chenvert - Napoleonville, LA)

Let that fucker burn. Let the fire crackle like the whips once did— like bone meeting leather, like screams swallowed by the trees. Let the white columns crumble to ash. Not as tragedy— but as truth, unearthing itself from beneath generations of silence. Nottoway is not a mansion. It’s a mausoleum. A lie carved in stone to honor the hands that held the whip, not the backs that bore it. They called it the “White Castle.” A place of beauty. A place for weddings, for photo ops, for pretending that horror can be made elegant if the curtains match the guilt. But no paint can cover what happened there. Blood doesn’t wash out with white linens. And pain doesn’t forget just because you renamed it history. I’m not Black. And I won’t pretend to carry that weight. But I also won’t ignore it. My people—the Guanches—were taken too. Our language silenced. Our land stolen. Our names nearly erased. So yes, I know colonization. Yes, I know what it means to be disappeared. But I also know this— my skin ...

The Peculiar New Room (Nick Perere - Baton Rouge, LA)

A peculiar fourth room has appeared in my three bedroom abode. High ceilings Higher than any ceiling in the house Perfectly pristine whitewashed gallery walls The largest window one can imagine Stretching from floor to ceiling Wide as an ocean’s horizon Revealing the lushest greenery and the bluest skies. I am meant to show masterpieces here. But in one of the corners o f the perfectly pristine whitewashed gallery walls i s an ugly patch of dirt. Dirt darker than charred coal. And the dirt is crawling And multiplying. With their spindly legs and dangly antennae Vermin covered in filth and willingly ready to spread their germs Scuffing the perfectly pristine whitewashed gallery walls. But I have to move on, I have a gallery to exhibit. Smile and act as if nothing is wrong. Come. Enjoy the show. Enjoy the artwork hanging Upon the perfectly pristine whitewashed gallery walls.

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