August Issue: Poetry Section

1. Letter from the Other Side of Silence — Stephanie L. Harper
2. Because The Deacon Couldn’t Sleep — Dina Friedman
3. One Day At A Time– Kavita Ratna
4. YOU ARE– Mahvash Mohtadullah
5. Gypsy Woman– George Bakola
6. For Angie– Rachel Ikins
7. Rise And Fall– Lynn White
8. Canary’s Plea– Agaigbe Uhembansha
9. The Lost Pages– Sabreen Ahmed
10. VOICES: Three Haikus by Daiypayan Nair
11. Lipstick– Kalpana Singh Chitnis
12. She Rides The Bus– Marianne Tefft
13. There Is A Desire– Trijita Mukherjee
14. My Inner Voice– Shailja Sharma

There Is A Desire— Trijita Mukherjee

This body is a cigarette that has not burnt through and through

Streaked with stretch marks and razor cuts,

that comes shaking and falling apart after a beating –

There are documents that have declared these desires diseased

This body is a six-year-old girl eating lunch alone

fat kid who can’t run, or make friends,

falling asleep in class, her skin burning with fever

unable to complete holiday homework

This body has a bengali tongue in a room full of kids who laugh in hindi,

a bully who beats up the kids who do not want to be friends with her,

A body that cannot tell the difference between pleasure and pain-

A monster in her castle, no fabled moonlight through the window

This body has run out of metaphors

Only rage remains, translating into the yearning for

A hand stroking my head, looking at me look at myself in the mirror,

teaching me a language of the self

My hair to be grabbed in a fist, my cheeks slapped, my mouth kissed

My skin bruised red and purple, my flesh bitten

My belly caressed, my breasts held with curiosity –

Desiring violence that does not violate

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