Where Color by Number Fails

by Nik

My father was born in Sindh
just outside of Karachi
In 1947 he was Partioned across a new border
from something to nothing
A "nonviolent" revolution
Across the subcontinent
Because of the number of gods he believed in

Your father in Jaipur
Who counts the number of gods on his pinky
Traveled the other way
Absorbing the hatred
Just like all the other sponges

And somehow
Our fathers traveled separately
From the same mango continent
To the same prairie state

When I felt your hand fit into mine
I noticed the monochromatic hues
And your lips against mine
I wanted to take all the sponges
And squeeze them out into the ocean
Where they could drown a salty death

But the blood doesn’t wash out
And our interlocking fingers
Could cause your mother to spill her own
Could cause mine to rip her scalp out

Our fathers crossed the oceans
And spawned star crossed lovers
So my honey, my Capulet
We have to let go
So I can go back to counting on my fingers
And…well…you’ve got your pinky.

Ana

By Amy

Remembering a Friend Is To Harvest a Spare Skeleton

I can’t make a garden grow
The sun isn’t close enough
We’re not even supposed to look.
Won’t ever feel what makes us so warm,
Or everybody tells us so.

Once when I was five,
I saw a balloon blow up.
I picked a red one out at dinner,
I may even have finished my children’s meal,
Back then I could do things like finish a meal
Now I plod through ends of knives like a fish without its bones
Trying to navigate what will make him healthy,
But they already said he was spineless
So it wouldn’t matter now if he grew two skeletons

I carried my balloon out of the restaurant on the corner
Even still in my mind the street is bigger than a movie screen
But the sky was even bigger
And on the map it’s just some dust swept under the rug
I stood and stared up and up
My parents walked me to the car,
I made them stop,
I needed air,
And I let the balloon go.

Mom said that an animal would choke on it and not to do that again
I started to cry
I said it was for my friend Ana
My mom said that she’d probably get it
And that Ana was lucky and so was I for having known her before she almost made it to six years old
But deep down I wondered if she was the luckiest
I thought about the coyote in the desert halfway across the country that would choke on my balloon,
I climbed into the car and
Put my seatbelt on.

Remember When?

by bru

Sometimes when the sun hits the leaves just right
I swear I could weep well into the next century
I swear I could weep until it was the end of me

Sometimes when I close my eyes too tight
I swear I could weep 'til all my friends moved away from me
Until they realized love doesn't mean always

Sometimes when I know I won't put up a fight
I swear I could weep 'til someone paid attention to me
Until someone desperately fell for me

Sometimes when it's too easy to say goodbye
I swear I could weep 'til I felt something again
Until I clumsily recall those years with 'remember when?'

between the lips and cheek

by: stacy

between the lips and cheek
there is a change in impact,
a change in nerve endings
and significance.

between the lips and cheek
is a change in implication.
the cheek receives friends
and the lips receive lovers.

but knowing what i know
of sensations and heart rates,
and knowing what i know
of friends and lovers,

i'd rather be kissed on the cheek
like i'd be kissed on the lips.
and i'd rather be kissed on the lips
like i'd be kissed on the cheek.

A History of Sex

mike swanberg

It occurred first by accident, as though in a cartoon.

A man who loves a woman wishes to see every inch of her
and, since she loves the way he whines, she undresses.

There isn’t much beautiful about her shape,
except that she opens herself before him.
And though her breasts are nothing, and her stomach embarrasses,
he puts his full weight on her because he believes he can.

Until they find themselves in the act and realize maybe they are scared.

His mouth not even thinking to close,
her hands wanting so much touch, and their breath ,
short and warm like an july night.

She wants him to pin her legs up, so she asks:
Will you pin my legs up with your arms?
He wants to make her happy,
So he does it one arm at a time.

Of course, that is alright, she answers after he asks.

But he thinks now, for the first time, that maybe he wants control of her terribly.
Maybe he will hold her legs up until they hurt her,
never stopping this act that she has allowed be his.
Taking as much from her as he can, almost lewd.
His teeth barred his mind a days drive away.

And though the look on her face is nothing but concern
as she asks him if he is okay.

He says yes when he means no,
So that she will let him keep going.