issue 1: New Beginnings
11 PM
Sierra Riley
where the animal townsfolk call me rookie,
call me what I tell them to.
It’s all ripe in there,
the fruit, the debt,
the tendons of my eyes.
I bent the unbendable,
why can’t a real place rearrange itself for me?
Lumber
Sierra Riley
A one-man quarrel
rooted in her ruin.
Logging birchwood by the lake,
I carry her around
even when her carbons are elsewhere.
Clangor in the back of the pickup,
axe, miter saw, arm saw,
the tools with which I change myself.
We all drive away from the water.
We all think of her.
Sierra Riley (she/her) is a queer writer, actor and library enthusiast living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. Her writings on art, food, ghosts and pop culture have appeared in national publications including Maclean's Magazine, PRISM Magazine, Vancouver Pride Magazine and SAD Mag, where she is also an editor.