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  • 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
  • Issue #25 Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Art Spring 2023 >
      • David Carter Spring 2023
      • Annabel Jung Spring 2023
      • Ryota Matsumoto Spring 2023
      • Leah Oates Spring 2023
      • Eve Ozer Spring 2023
      • Emily Rankin Spring 2023
      • Esther Yeon Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Poetry Spring 2023 >
      • Emma Bolden Spring 2023
      • Ronda Piszk Broatch Spring 2023
      • M. Cynthia Cheung Spring 2023
      • Flower Conroy Spring 2023
      • Jill Crammond Spring 2023
      • Sandra Crouch Spring 2023
      • Satya Dash Spring 2023
      • Rita Feinstein Spring 2023
      • Dan Fliegel Spring 2023
      • Lisa Higgs ​Spring 2023
      • Dennis Hinrichsen ​Spring 2023
      • Mara Jebsen ​Spring 2023
      • Abriana Jetté ​Spring 2023
      • Letitia Jiju ​Spring 2023
      • E.W.I. Johnson ​Spring 2023
      • Ashley Kunsa ​Spring 2023
      • Susanna Lang ​Spring 2023
      • James Fujinami Moore Spring 2023
      • Matthew Murrey Spring 2023
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2023
      • Heather Qin ​Spring 2023
      • Wesley Sexton ​Spring 2023
      • Ashish Singh ​Spring 2023
      • Sara Sowers-Wills ​Spring 2023
      • Sydney Vogl ​Spring 2023
      • Elinor Ann Walker Spring 2023
      • Andrew Wells Spring 2023
      • Erin Wilson Spring 2023
      • Marina Hope Wilson ​Spring 2023
      • David Wojciechowski Spring 2023
      • Jules Wood Spring 2023
      • Ellen Zhang Spring 2023
      • BJ Zhou Spring 2023
      • Jane Zwart Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Fiction Spring 2023 >
      • Eleonora Balsano Spring 2023
      • Callie S. Blackstone Spring 2023
      • Daniel Deisinger Spring 2023
      • CL Glanzing Spring 2023
      • Janine Kovac Spring 2023
      • Jeremy T. Wilson Spring 2023
      • Richie Zaborowske Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Nonfiction Spring 2023 >
      • Kalie Johnson Spring 2023
      • Amanda Roth Spring 2023
  • Issue #26 Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Art Fall 2023 >
      • Alexey Adonin Fall 2023
      • Jian Choi Fall 2023
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2023
      • ​Anna Maeve Fall 2023
      • Jason Reblando Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Poetry Fall 2023 >
      • Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo ​ Fall 2023
      • Christopher Ankney Fall 2023
      • Magdalena Arias Vásquez Fall 2023
      • John Peter Beck Fall 2023
      • Mihir Bellamkonda Fall 2023
      • Benjamin Bellas Fall 2023
      • Michael Carson Fall 2023
      • Kevin Clark Fall 2023
      • Aaron Coleman Fall 2023
      • Mark DeCarteret Fall 2023
      • Denise Duhamel Fall 2023
      • Brandel France de Bravo Fall 2023
      • Tina Gross Fall 2023
      • Amorak Huey Fall 2023
      • James Kimbrell Fall 2023
      • Casey Knott Fall 2023
      • Stephen Lackaye Fall 2023
      • Cynthia Manick Fall 2023
      • Savannah McClendon Fall 2023
      • John Muellner Fall 2023
      • Mollie O’Leary Fall 2023
      • Joel Peckham Fall 2023
      • Natalia Prusinska Fall 2023
      • henry 7. reneau, jr. Fall 2023
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2023
      • Hilary Sallick Fall 2023
      • Kelly R. Samuels Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Fiction Fall 2023 >
      • Abbie Barker Fall 2023
      • Eric Rasmussen Fall 2023
      • E.P. Tuazon Fall 2023

W. J. Lofton
​

dusk? no, dust!

Knowing is the pigeon’s foot,
A stroke of orange, in my memory--
Stepping like a saint
Into God’s stare, toward a single crumb,
Placed there intentionally,

Passed through doors, quark-size & invisible.
Usually it takes too late. Usually it takes too soon,
To realize the multiverse of miracles; the two feet
Of distance painted white & yellow, keeping the 18 wheeler
In the working class lane as Ms. Barbara, the driver, calls it

Or by the flight in the monarch’s flutter.
Or the fading light reaching for the Flower Lady’s face, no longer
A twenty-five year old beauty,
her mother daily repeats.
She’s up the road now, in a nursing home no one would dare call dignified,
​
               I,too, knew

The amber wave shaking like brick dust,
Off the bell’s curve. I suppose I know the color
Of the place where the sky meets the ocean.
Might you imagine it too?
Might you imagine water --

The color of your been- gone-too
Long mother’s cremains. Keep
Your cavities dry when you shower,

A measure to keep the children safe.
At times the mothers want to disobey

Their own advice. After the judges proclaimed
their bodies did not belong to them but to the state, M-I-crooked letter
Crooked letter I- humpBack, humpBack I
PP-I
Their blood warmed like curious liquor.

--
W.J. Lofton is a Black, Queer, Southern, American poet. He is the author of the poetry collection A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust. His poems have been featured in TIME Magazine, Platypus Press, Rust & Moth, and Scalawag Magazine.


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  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Masthead
  • Submit
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Submit Here
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Book Reviews
  • Previous Issues
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • 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
  • Issue #25 Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Art Spring 2023 >
      • David Carter Spring 2023
      • Annabel Jung Spring 2023
      • Ryota Matsumoto Spring 2023
      • Leah Oates Spring 2023
      • Eve Ozer Spring 2023
      • Emily Rankin Spring 2023
      • Esther Yeon Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Poetry Spring 2023 >
      • Emma Bolden Spring 2023
      • Ronda Piszk Broatch Spring 2023
      • M. Cynthia Cheung Spring 2023
      • Flower Conroy Spring 2023
      • Jill Crammond Spring 2023
      • Sandra Crouch Spring 2023
      • Satya Dash Spring 2023
      • Rita Feinstein Spring 2023
      • Dan Fliegel Spring 2023
      • Lisa Higgs ​Spring 2023
      • Dennis Hinrichsen ​Spring 2023
      • Mara Jebsen ​Spring 2023
      • Abriana Jetté ​Spring 2023
      • Letitia Jiju ​Spring 2023
      • E.W.I. Johnson ​Spring 2023
      • Ashley Kunsa ​Spring 2023
      • Susanna Lang ​Spring 2023
      • James Fujinami Moore Spring 2023
      • Matthew Murrey Spring 2023
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2023
      • Heather Qin ​Spring 2023
      • Wesley Sexton ​Spring 2023
      • Ashish Singh ​Spring 2023
      • Sara Sowers-Wills ​Spring 2023
      • Sydney Vogl ​Spring 2023
      • Elinor Ann Walker Spring 2023
      • Andrew Wells Spring 2023
      • Erin Wilson Spring 2023
      • Marina Hope Wilson ​Spring 2023
      • David Wojciechowski Spring 2023
      • Jules Wood Spring 2023
      • Ellen Zhang Spring 2023
      • BJ Zhou Spring 2023
      • Jane Zwart Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Fiction Spring 2023 >
      • Eleonora Balsano Spring 2023
      • Callie S. Blackstone Spring 2023
      • Daniel Deisinger Spring 2023
      • CL Glanzing Spring 2023
      • Janine Kovac Spring 2023
      • Jeremy T. Wilson Spring 2023
      • Richie Zaborowske Spring 2023
    • Issue #25 Nonfiction Spring 2023 >
      • Kalie Johnson Spring 2023
      • Amanda Roth Spring 2023
  • Issue #26 Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Art Fall 2023 >
      • Alexey Adonin Fall 2023
      • Jian Choi Fall 2023
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2023
      • ​Anna Maeve Fall 2023
      • Jason Reblando Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Poetry Fall 2023 >
      • Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo ​ Fall 2023
      • Christopher Ankney Fall 2023
      • Magdalena Arias Vásquez Fall 2023
      • John Peter Beck Fall 2023
      • Mihir Bellamkonda Fall 2023
      • Benjamin Bellas Fall 2023
      • Michael Carson Fall 2023
      • Kevin Clark Fall 2023
      • Aaron Coleman Fall 2023
      • Mark DeCarteret Fall 2023
      • Denise Duhamel Fall 2023
      • Brandel France de Bravo Fall 2023
      • Tina Gross Fall 2023
      • Amorak Huey Fall 2023
      • James Kimbrell Fall 2023
      • Casey Knott Fall 2023
      • Stephen Lackaye Fall 2023
      • Cynthia Manick Fall 2023
      • Savannah McClendon Fall 2023
      • John Muellner Fall 2023
      • Mollie O’Leary Fall 2023
      • Joel Peckham Fall 2023
      • Natalia Prusinska Fall 2023
      • henry 7. reneau, jr. Fall 2023
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2023
      • Hilary Sallick Fall 2023
      • Kelly R. Samuels Fall 2023
    • Issue #26 Fiction Fall 2023 >
      • Abbie Barker Fall 2023
      • Eric Rasmussen Fall 2023
      • E.P. Tuazon Fall 2023