Issue #2 - May 2021
non-fiction
Edited by Jacklyn Yee and Raaz Rashtian
“Dust”
by Elise Noelle
Bio: Elise Noelle is a summa cum laude graduate with a degree in Integrative Studies and minors in Professional Writing and Biology. She has been published thrice before through a local bookstore. She hopes to continue to develop as a writer and eventually publish her manuscript one day.
Artist Statement: “Dust” pertains to the feelings of being lost and chained to the past - unable to shape one's own destiny due to the world we're surviving in.
“John or Jontae’: What’s in a Name?”
by Jasmine Harris
Bio: Jasmine Harris is an Educational Specialist and published poet featured in the International Poetry Digest, Ink & Voices, Lucky Jefferson, Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, Rigorous, or more. Her book, I May Have Been In My Feelings, focuses her writing on identity, relationships, and the climate of society. Harris frequently quotes her inspirations as Maya Angelou, Ntozake Shange, and Tupac Shakur. Stay updated with her work and projects through her website www.jasminemharris.weebly.com or by following her on Instagram @ dr_harris.
Artist Statement: The attached essay, John or Jontae, brings awareness to racial implicit bias and microaggressions in the education system. The essay centers around bias and its connection to student success with suggestions to counterattack discriminatory behaviors in educators.
“From Gods to Men”
by Oga-enyong Nkiri
Bio: My name is Oga-enyong Nkiri I'm 23 years old and currently enrolled at the University of Oklahoma state where I took my first creative writing class about a semester ago. I'm working on my first novel and I also write poems and make music on Instagram. You can find me @R_K_O_cosmic_fool (music and animation) and @Foolish_Cosmic_Poet (writing).
Artist Statement: The Decomp journal tries to shine a spotlight on underrepresented communities, and though I am not native, I am an African immigrant, and my community is still fairly underrepresented. In this Essay-Poem, I write through the lens of an immigrants child, and I think it sends a beautiful message for underrepresented communities. Thank you for your consideration.
“Waiting”
by Roger Cranse
Bio: Roger Cranse graduated Rutgers University in 1963, served two years in the Peace Corps in Nepal and then two years in An Loc, Vietnam, with the State Department. He’s spent most of his career at the Community College of Vermont, where he still teaches. His publications include “The Hearts and Minds Guys” in the Fall, 2012, edition of Raritan, A Quarterly Review; “Baguettes and the Forever War,” in The New York Times Vietnam ’67 Newsletter, February 27, 2018; “Looper” in Jenny Magazine, Spring, 2019; and “National Newark and Essex” in Hinterlands Magazine, Summer, 2019.
Artist Statement: This essay shows the workings of an unjust medical system indifferent to patients and entirely dominated by the fever for profits. The essay embraces decomp's commitment to "art that resists the injustices outside and inside ourselves and our communities."
“Our Mother Rapunzel”
by Shivani Mutneja
Bio: Shivani Mutneja works in Pune, India. Her poetry and prose have appeared in Radius Lit, Nether Magazine,The Literateur and Queen Mob's Tea House. Her flash piece 'Ugly Husband' in 'Jellyfish Review' made it to the Wigleaf's Top 50 longlist for 2020. Her story "A Child for All Seasons" recently appeared in the magazine "Two Serious Ladies."
Twitter handle : @stardus07734769
Medium : https://medium.com/@shivanimutneja/cows-and-men-3eb3b806497f
Artist Statement: My essay was written as an exercise in Deforming Prior Forms in the 'Corporeal Writing' workshop. It is an attempt at telling of the lives witnessed in childhood through the prism of the fairy tales heard, and articulating the shapes that women's lives take in the oppressive shadow of patriarchy.
“30 Steps to Losing 30 Pounds in a Pandemic”
by Maureen O'Leary
Bio: Maureen O’Leary is a writer and teacher from Sacramento, California. She is an MFA candidate in fiction at Ashland University.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Maureenow
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/maureenow/
Artist Statement: This is a highly personal piece that wrestles with how the outer injustice inflicted on women via control of their bodies has affected and infected my inner dialogue as well as every aspect of my relationship with my family of origin
“Confession of a 60-Year-Old Writer: From a Literature of Frustration to the Literature of Overcoming”
by Alexander KAN
Bio: Alexander KAN was born in 1960 in Pyongyang (North Korea). He graduated from the Republican School of Physics and Mathematics in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, and the Gorky Literary Institute (Russia). Author of books of prose, including "The Age of the Family", "Dreams of the Unborn", "The Invisible Island", "The Book of White Day", "Homeland" and others. Winner of international literary competitions in Moscow ("New Names", the almanac "Uncle Vanya", best short story "The Costumer", 1993), Berlin (Nipkow Programm, best screenplay about the life of Russian immigrants in Germany, "Another Sky", 1999), Seoul (Ministry of Cinematography of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Foundation, best screenplay about the life of foreign Koreans "Smoke", 2003), Ann Arbor (University of Michigan, Center for Korean Studies, best essay about postsoviet koreans (koryo saram),”A Third Hamlet”, 2006), Berkeley (University of California, Berkeley, best essay on koryo saram “Lasting Call: My Return to North Korea”, 2013). Lives in Alma-Ata.
https://koryo-saram.ru/tag/aleksandr-kan/
https://www.facebook.com/alex.kan.5
Artist Statement: My whole life is made up of despair, which I experienced for many years, feeling like a physical and spiritual alien. It was only through literature that I patched up this hole in myself.
