Category: Side A

Artist Spotlight: Four Visual Poems by Sarah J. Sloat

*Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. Sarah J. Sloat reminds us that even in our digital culture writing is about texture. Combining words, images, and erasure, her work exposures the landscape residing within every page. Sloat is a poetic detective that looks behind the whiteness. At her hand, the line of text moving…
Side A Featured Poem: Jonathan May’s “The Night Journey”

(found poem from multiple sources [FBI Guantanamo Bay Inquiry // The Night Journey, Sura 17, The Koran // Department of Defense Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual – 1983]) The purpose of all coercive techniques is to induce psychological regression in the subject by bringing a superior outside force to bear on his will to…
Side A Featured Essay: “Mercantile” by Jennifer Fliss

I am in a store that calls itself a mercantile. The floors are a bleached wood. It smells like patchouli with an overlay of dryer sheets. There’s a vast selection of essential oils. I smell them all until I smell them all as I move to the back of the store. I run my fingers…
Side A Featured Essay: Harmony Neal’s “Allyship”

A response to the piece by the same name by Will Waller Oppressor: I’m here to help! I’m not like the other people from my group. I believe in equality for all. Oppressed Person: You’re standing on my neck. O: No I’m not! Wait, what? OP: You’re standing on my neck. Could you please get…
I Am Trying to Break Your Sex Laws 3.3

“I am confused where the pineapple goes.” – emoboysandgirls Acres On Acres On Acres I tease the match head against Arthur’s collarbone, chin, and temple. His nose humblebrags about all the deforestation going on. Arthur moves slightly when a squall of Cruzan 151 crashes against the loosely buttoned island. The Viagra has an hour left to…
I Am Trying to Break Your Sex Laws 3.2

“Guys and breasts—what’s the big deal?” —mschristinewrites Borealis Samuel struggles to keep his eyes above the raven haired woman’s chest as she walks out of Lamaze class. Samuel’s shoulder aches, the phantom palm of his father coaxing him forward. “This isn’t Everest,” the memory of Samuel’s father’s cigarette ash rasp unspools, ties around Samuel’s wrists, elbows,…
I Am Trying to Break Your Sex Laws 3.1

“Why am I single?” —Meghan F., Kissimmee, FL Silkworm Today, her palm print blisters everywhere she touched. I try and steal back every breath she took, but my lungs act like the Wet Bandits. I fold everything into arks as the room fills. I fold the arks into nuclear reactors, breach every core. This will keep…
I Am Trying to Break Your Sex Laws 2.4

“Why do people compromise themselves into misery when they’re ‘in love?’” – Marissa, Orlando, FL A Christmas Story My father unpacked disappointment from the steamer chest, falling on my body like a blanket; it’s why she laughs after making my underwear an illusion. Got a sex and/or dating question for J. Bradley? E-mail him here.…
I Am Trying to Break Your Sex Laws 2.3

“When it comes to dating why do men lead with penis and pay less heed to what’s actually going on?” – Missa, Orlando, FL H.M.S Pinafore The divorce demagnetized my moral compass, names as colonial British sea power. I look in the mirror for where the cannonball of her teeth landed. Got a sex and/or…