Andromeda’s Reviews > Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color > Status Update

“i can’t stand not to be swallowed whole,
to be sunken into, wrapped in wet walls
& then broken down, & then dissolved
into someone else’s cells. to be craved so hard
i become marrow. stomach lining & tooth.
to be devoured”

Franny Choi, thirst

“When he swings his fist,
duck down and tackle him to
the ground with soft kisses.
When a n*gga calls you a f*ggot,
He’s calling you by his first name. He’s telling you about his-self.
His own fault lines splitting his tongue, toxic and tender.
He’s crying for help from the bottom of the ocean.”

Jay Dodd, When a N*gga Calls You a F*ggot

“how men grow vain and forget to wash the blood from their hands before they hug their daughters”

Julian Randall, Abuela Dice Que Spilled Salt Goes Over the Shoulder

“we had to wash ourselves of home in order to survive”

Julian Randall, Abuela Dice Que Spilled Salt Goes Over the Shoulder

“WHAT IS NARRATIVE IF NOT THE BLOOD / IT CARRIES? WHAT ARE YOU IF NOT THE TRAUMA YOU INHERIT”

George Abraham, Inheritance

“there is a time and place for everything but right now
I find it hard to exist”

- Madiha Khan, Ghazal After Quebec City

“Her mouth is an impossibly pink place, a gaping raw cathedral”

Robin Coste Lewis, The Body in August

“my numbs from the cold & my face &
bury my teeth
without fleeing & the seared my rose in my
& the sap from the tree into the air the stink of it smeared my
& the river came back I could always hold the longest underwater”

- Sarah Maria Medina, Erasure of Girlhood

this poem hurt me to read

“I'm ashamed of how much water
my body holds. I'm more ocean than girl”

Allyson Ang, Wet Dream

“THERE ARE SO MANY SKELETAL REMAINS IN LOCKED
XANGAS LIVEJOURNAL AND MYSPACE
ACCOUNTS. THE FINAL
FRONTIER OF THE OLD TRIBES AND THEOLOGIES”

Juliana Huxtable, Untitled (destroying flesh)