Love Not: 1 Plus 1 = 0
Logic and alpha-maleness stifle the potential for love in this poem by San Antonio poet, Catherine Lee
Hackles
Hannah Norris’ poem explores the discomfiting bizarreness of male behavior towards women in public spaces
Two Poems
Welsh poet Elizabeth Wilson Davies probes constructions of the female body through two lyric poems: "Eel Man" and "Blonde Ambition"
Caspian Sea
Persian poet Leila Farjami writes about a complex, knotted mother-daughter relationship. With artwork by Vivian Hagedorn
Visions
The disembodiment of helplessness – a poem by Natasha Huynh
May
New in milk & vodka, Pakistani poet Ammara Jabbar entwines nature with girlhood. With artwork by Keely Mclavin
Salt
With salt as her anchor, catalyst, and metaphorical vehicle, Katharine Oden’s prose poem dives into the troubled waters of a mind. With artwork by Luchina Akhmad
mint tea: a summertime lyric
A piece of free verse from Rabat, Morocco, where a woman navigates (mis)belonging, visas, and mobility
Two Poems
With influences from Angel Nafis, queer Bangladeshi poet Amatan Noor spins an acerbic bite out of everyday realities and structures
In Our Understanding the Self Class
TW: sexual assault
A poem by Von-der By that looks at the ugliness and trauma of a personal history and its impact on sexuality
full
TW: eating disorder
A formally bold, experimental piece of free verse that explores a relationship with the body that feels often unrequited
In English Class, I Wrote This Poem
New in milk & vodka, this poem by Bianca Grace shows a girl learning to channel and name her patriarchal rage. With art by Zahra Mohamadi
UNBECOMING
A poem that questions the lines between love, care, gender, and sexuality and what it means to be and become
Three Poems
New in our milk & vodka column, a trio of crashing, biting, tender poems by Laura Evers on womanhood
The Visitant
A subtle piece of free verse by Lorelei Bacht thinks about making a life and losing a life
Two Poems
Two poems by Rabha Ashry watch a girl rebel against what is expected of her, playing with the ties that bind her to her bed, a boy, to God. With artwork by Zayn Qahtani
whatever you want to call me is fine
The question of pronouns should not be a question – Hannah Coakley distills a limpid sense of resistance in this new poem
Admission Paperwork
TW: eating disorders.
New in our milk & vodka column, a poem exploring a “body bound to / persistence & disaster”
Poet Rabha Ashry on ‘loving the alien’, Black Sunflowers, and Playing Foreigner
Winner of the 2020 Brunel International African Poetry Prize, Rabha Ashry probes her different identities, navigating Arabness, queerness and more, in her chapbook “loving the alien”, published by UK’s first crowdfunded poetry press Black Sunflowers. Tusshara Nalakumar Srilatha reviews her poems and talks to Ashry about her process and practice
Building Bridges with My Body
TW: eating disorder. Mary Senier wields and manipulates poetic form like a body in this poem on wanting to become anew