Beckoned by Lilith

by Isabel Rhodes

They call me Maiden of the Night,
but I crawled out of the sun.
Celestial fluids dripped from my wings,
blisters marred my cheeks and bloody welts
rose out of my skin, Continue reading

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Of Love & Loss

by Shayna Cristy-Mendez

My body feels it before my brain can ever make sense of it; words always fail in their attempt to capture the sense of abandonment that comes with losing a parent to drug addiction. That particular sense of abandonment also tends to be exaggerated when their death falls on your birthday. As it happens, death has a habit of being a real foot to the groin of celebration. Continue reading

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Sick Days

by April Bannister

When her heart buys its ticket and packs its suitcase and settles in its window seat to watch the airplane heave up from the soil, she is at home—she has not yet laid in her hospital bed, nor stepped on an airplane herself. When her heart buys its ticket, she feels it, chloroform cold radiating from inside her chest. She panics. Hands clutch at something too deep to grasp, so she flails, alone in her bedroom, alone in the apartment. I can’t die yet, she thinks. There’s so much food I need to eat.  Continue reading

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Self-Portrait with Matilda, 1996

by Siobhan Jean-Charles

Every day she untangles herself
from the sidewalks, sits in the library

with the sun spilling in her lap. She stacks
the novels into a skyline. At the bookstore, Continue reading

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For the Future of Ka Malu ʻUlu o Lele

by Bailey Baybayan

No Ka Malu ʻUlu o Lele
For the lush green lands that flow from Mauka to Makai
Fish ponds that house the sustenance of our people
Winds that carry the sweet fragrance of aloha
Our land is the most beautiful in the world …  Continue reading

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