The Poems
I. Blueprint, Jerrold Yam
"I can be/ so deliberate as to fill/ spaces she has emptied with herself"
II. My Brother is a Magpie, Sheila McMullin
"My brother’s wife lays eggs / in the comfort of my throat."
III. Sometimes When I Leave the Lab What's Outside, Laura Kolbe
"When I first met my hands, their small largesse / they and I - we three - were amazed."
IV. Infidel, Kafir, Renegade, Turncoat, Purvi Shah
"Define betrayal. Define / slicing the neck. Define inquisition. "
V. Wonderland, Darrel Alejandro Holnes
"New York, in the movie, was / always sunshine"
VI. Three Days, Three Dresses, Samiah Haque
"We were all / in yellow. Garlands of jasmine around your neck."
VII. Constellation of Berenice, Sara Maria Medina
"Home is never a house, but a body: / ribcage, a heart beating to sleep"
VIII. [theory of disappearance], Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
"One body trembling / for another. / Or beneath. Or against."
IX. Old Wives' Tales, Safia Elhillo
"A prayer / dissolved in water / casts a spell"
X. What Happens in the Forest, Michael Bazzett