Issue #4
Poetry
Edited by Emily Baird, Kayley Hirose, Jasmine Manango, and Anika Nicholson
“Reverse Gentrification”
by Ramon Jimenez
We all think about how and who will remember us when we are no longer here.
“there’s a feeling something needs us here”
by Joseph Hardy
The shortest distance between two emotions: ordinary, true.
“If You Want to Know Where I’m Really From, I’ll Tell You”
by Maria Bolaños
This poem is constantly in motion, embodying the life of movement and migration I inherited from a family history shaped by colonialism. It's a poem with joy at its center and sadness at its edges; and it's inspired by my father, uncles, and grandfathers -- the men who have ventured out to far-flung places for decades at a time, and how it feels when these men, no matter how briefly, come home.
“What Would You Have Chosen”
by Claire Scott
“But You Promised”
by Claire Scott
These poems are both bold and spare, at least that is my intention. I do not want to skirt the hard, cold facts of mortality.
“Breaking into my Great-Grandmother’s house”
by Corey Miller
This poem explores grief and the words I wish Icould have found.
“Somber Season”
by Briana Craig
My work relates to decomp because these three pieces reflect on the stages of growth, beginning with the pain, then acceptance, and finally, the joy that flourishes after a season of growth.
“BEING”
by Robin Gow
I have been working on erasures and fragmentations of insurance companies policies on gender "reassignment" procedures. I think this relates to decomp journal's mission both because the poems make legible the process of distorting the source text and also are attempting to ask of these texts "what does trans embodiment mean?"
“Fata Morgana”
by Glenn Shaheen
When hiring Nobuhiko Obayashi to direct the 1977 horror film House, the production company, Toho, told Obayashi they were tired of losing money on narratively comprehensive films and wanted instead to lose money on something incomprehensible. It's one of the best movies you'll ever see.