Michelle Kubilis
Kampala

there is no place to hold hands but in bed
please forgive me for that

for valentines day you wanted lions
uganda beckoned a business trip

at check in we said our company
demanded we save money each day we

pulled back both covers lounging
please just let us hold hands wed know

if amin did that to his bishop
can you imagine what theyd do to fag

Sierra Windham
I Thought I Found a Home in You

Your honeysuckle tongue
has all the backlash
of a whip, and I’ve been trying
to hold your hand
but your words leave
welts on my skin.
I settled for silence
but all that remained
were the fumes
from your pretty cherub
mouth; (toxic)
you watched
as my body rotted
from the inside out
and buried me
beneath the floorboards of our
broken house
(you are so toxic).
You said you wanted a home
but my feet were cold
before I even crossed the threshold.

Eric Pankey
To Formulate a Definition

How often we are drawn together
By a single act of carelessness
The false positive or double negative
Understood as its opposite
We smear ourselves with ash
To make of the self a void
But instead of disappearing
We leave footprints behind
On the kitchen’s slate floor
The coastline cliffs collapse
Loose threads of rain
Unravel from a cloud sampler
But what is the proximate cause
We learn to discern patterns
And predict the vernal equinox
We hold a curve of willow charcoal
And make a hesitant first mark
Then write a treatise on the nature of things