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  • Issue 22 Fall 2021
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      • Bonnie Severien Fall 2021
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  • Issue 23 Spring 2022
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      • Acadia Currah Fall 2022

Natalie Hampton

life in the phases of the moon


   I. new moon 1
   II. waxing crescent moon 2
   III. first quarter moon 3
   IV. waxing gibbous moon 4
   V. full moon 5
   VI. waning gibbous moon 6
   VII. last quarter moon 7
   VIII. waning crescent moon 8     
   IX. new moon 9


1. as if inked blood stains wombs / into empty chambers, we spend nine months / in the dark. a child / i once babysat could only strike the keys / of a piano in a dusk room. he said / light lived too much / & music longed for the dead. alternative to dead: notyetborn. / when my brother was notyetborn, / he was normal as

2. could be with / spoon eyes & midnight wakes & / promises of more light in his future / more illumination in his full (moon) life. / fact: parents don’t outlive / children. fact: my parents weren’t / astrologists. fact: sometimes, I lie. you see,

3. the disorder pins / shadows & toolateclocks to cratered / hearts. later diagnosis = further seeped blood / medical help = slowed advance. tell me / about doctors & diagnoses / & I’ll tell you he was fourteen months when doctors said he would die / young. treatment would savor / the light / until the shadows knocked all doors down. somedays I hear them knocking

4. but breaking news / holds waves at bay. / technological advancements & medical / experts. ashes burned / back into bodies / toolateclocks dialed back / coffins resurfaced and emptied, miracles / from heaven (or miracles / from labs). wires strung through body, suspended skeleton. now / make him your test subject. find the elixir in new / treatment plans & / medicines & trials & one day / a cure will align. one day / his genes will reorder / one day / oneday. / onedays

5. passed like butterfly / wings. one day he died / with desire to be other kids / to be the dove / & not choke on olive branches / to be / something. one day he died / with desire to sink into the ground at disney / & consume only light & laughter until doves dug ditches and buried themselves. / make-a-wish was free / ice cream & carousal rides / & wondering / how many of your new friends will die / in a year / how many reach the top of the roller coaster / & how many lose momentum / halfway. & skipping / to the front of lines / & meeting costumed versions of digital characters. but when we returned, we learned how

6. seizures steal bodies, steal limbs, steal hearts / & more than one iteration: friends’ hearts, families’ hearts. packed into boxes and shipped / across the seven seas. returned only / to clench into fisted roses & murder / mystery threats: which seizure will be the grand finale? / we packed our hearts and we packed him

7. into hospice. fact: the maximum length of hospice eligibility is six months. / fact: he was on it for years. you see, doctors wrote eulogies / before he was gone. warned of death / with every trace of shadow. so his expected life span / always dwindled below the mark. / under this care

8. they reminded us food is life / & to empty stomachs is to empty / bedrooms. when he stopped eating & drinking & gathered debt in shed pounds he didn’t own, / we saw life debt taking back what it owned. we saw / the toolateclocks ringing true / and another fact:

9. my parents aren’t astrologists, / but even if they were, no telescope / can see the new moon.



--
​Natalie Hampton is a junior at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Creative Writing Department. She has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Harris County Department of Education, the Young Poets Network, the Pulitzer Center, and Ringling College of Art and Design. She serves as an editor at Polyphony Lit and Cathartic Literary Magazine. She has taken online workshops and classes with Iowa, Brown, and Sewanee.

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  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Masthead
  • Submit
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Submit Here
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Book Reviews
  • Previous Issues
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Issue 22 Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Art Fall 2021 >
      • Bonnie Severien Fall 2021
      • Camilla Taylor Fall 2021
      • Guilherme Bergamini Fall 2021
      • Emanuela Iorga Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Poetry Fall 2021 >
      • Maureen Alsop Fall 2021
      • Annah Browning Fall 2021
      • Romana Iorga Fall 2021
      • Natalie Hampton Fall 2021
      • Sherine Gilmour Fall 2021
      • Adam Day Fall 2021
      • Amanda Auchter Fall 2021
      • Adam Tavel Fall 2021
      • Sara Moore Fall 2021
      • Karen Rigby Fall 2021
      • Daniel Zhang Fall 2021
      • Erika Lutzner Fall 2021
      • Kindall Fredricks Fall 2021
      • Cin Salach Fall 2021
      • Andrew Zawacki Fall 2021
      • Micah Ruelle Fall 2021
      • Rachel Stempel Fall 2021
      • Haley Wooning Fall 2021
      • Rikki Santer Fall 2021
      • Evy Shen Fall 2021
      • Suzanne Frischkorn Fall 2021
      • Danielle Rose Fall 2021
      • Eric Burgoyne Fall 2021
      • John Cullen Fall 2021
      • Maureen Seaton Fall 2021
      • Hannah Stephens Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Nonfiction Fall 2021 >
      • Kevin Grauke Fall 2021
      • Courtney Justus Fall 2021
      • Amy Nicholson Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Fiction Fall 2021 >
      • Tina Jenkins Bell Fall 2021
      • David Obuchowski Fall 2021
      • Thomas Misuraca Fall 2021
      • Aiden Baker Fall 2021
      • Jenny Magnus Fall 2021
  • Issue 23 Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Art Spring 2022 >
      • Jonathan Kvassay Spring 2022
      • Karyna McGlynn Spring 2022
      • Andrea Kowch Spring 2022
      • Layla Garcia-Torres Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Poetry Spring 2022 >
      • Robin Gow Spring 2022
      • T.D. Walker Spring 2022
      • Jen Schalliol Huang Spring 2022
      • Yvonne Zipter Spring 2022
      • Carrie McGath Spring 2022
      • Lupita Eyde-Tucker Spring 2022
      • Susan L. Leary Spring 2022
      • Kate Sweeney Spring 2022
      • Rita Mookerjee Spring 2022
      • Erin Carlyle Spring 2022
      • Cori Bratty-Rudd Spring 2022
      • Jen Karetnick Spring 2022
      • Meghan Sterling Spring 2022
      • Lorelei Bacht Spring 2022
      • Michael Passafiume Spring 2022
      • Jeannine Hall Gailey Spring 2022
      • Phil Goldstein Spring 2022
      • Michael Mingo Spring 2022
      • Angie Macri Spring 2022
      • Martha Silano Spring 2022
      • Vismai Rao Spring 2022
      • Anna Laura Reeve Spring 2022
      • Jenny Irish Spring 2022
      • Marek Kulig Spring 2022
      • Jami Macarty Spring 2022
      • Sarah A. Rae Spring 2022
      • Brittney Corrigan Spring 2022
      • Callista Buchen Spring 2022
      • Issam Zineh Spring 2022
      • MICHAEL CHANG Spring 2022
      • henry 7. reneau, jr. Spring 2022
      • Leah Umansky Spring 2022
      • Cody Beck Spring 2022
      • Danyal Kim Spring 2022
      • Rachel DeWoskin Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Fiction Spring 2022 >
      • Melissa Boberg Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Nonfiction Spring 2022 >
      • Srinaath Perangur Spring 2022
      • Audrey T. Carroll Spring 2022
  • Issue #24 Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Art Fall 2022 >
      • Marsha Solomon Fall 2022
      • Edward Lee Fall 2022
      • Harryette Mullen Fall 2022
      • Jezzelle Kellam Fall 2022
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2022
      • Natalie Christensen Fall 2022
      • Mark Yale Harris Fall 2022
      • Amy Nelder Fall 2022
      • Bette Ridgeway Fall 2022
      • Ursula Sokolowska Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Poetry Fall 2022 >
      • William Stobb Fall 2022
      • e Fall 2022
      • Stefanie Kirby Fall 2022
      • Lisa Ampleman Fall 2022
      • Will Cordeiro Fall 2022
      • Jesica Davis Fall 2022
      • Peter O'Donovan Fall 2022
      • Mackenzie Carignan Fall 2022
      • Jason Fraley Fall 2022
      • Barbara Saunier Fall 2022
      • Chad Weeden Fall 2022
      • Nick Rattner Fall 2022
      • Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow Fall 2022
      • Summer J. Hart Fall 2022
      • Daniel Suá​rez Fall 2022
      • Sara Kearns Fall 2022
      • Millicent Borges Accardi Fall 2022
      • Liz Robbins Fall 2022
      • john compton Fall 2022
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2022
      • Whitney Koo Fall 2022
      • W. J. Lofton Fall 2022
      • Rachel Reynolds Fall 2022
      • Kimberly Ann Priest Fall 2022
      • Annie Przypyszny Fall 2022
      • Konstantin Kulakov Fall 2022
      • Nellie Cox Fall 2022
      • Jennifer Martelli Fall 2022
      • SM Stubbs Fall 2022
      • Joshua Bird Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Fiction Fall 2022 >
      • Otis Fuqua Fall 2022
      • Hannah Harlow Fall 2022
      • Natalia Nebel Fall 2022
      • Kate Maxwell Fall 2022
      • Helena Pantsis Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Nonfiction Fall 2022 >
      • Courtney Ludwick Fall 2022
      • Anna Oberg Fall 2022
      • Acadia Currah Fall 2022