by Victor Garate
As he usually did when greeting me, my dad held the back of my neck and planted a kiss on my forehead. I didn’t greet him back.

by Victor Garate
As he usually did when greeting me, my dad held the back of my neck and planted a kiss on my forehead. I didn’t greet him back.

by Caleb Hogan
It’s the end of the month
you’re staying up until midnight
waiting for your Link card to refill.
You’ve been making peanut butter sandwiches
out of stale crackers all week.

by Jennifer De La Cruz
She loses sleep searching for deals on humidifiers and dreams of fog. If plants need just three simple things to grow, why won’t they?

by Saturn Lawson
We are the children
Of those who threw the first stones

by Victoria Segarra
She wears warm, vibrant colors. I wear cold, muted colors. Her voice is loud and distinct. She often asks me to repeat myself because I’m so quiet.

by Isabella Allwood
I want my photos to remind the audience to call their grandma. I want every photo to have a personality, like you know someone is there but you just can’t see them.

by Emily Ramos
For parts of my early childhood, my mother was a vampire. A part of her was this creature that couldn’t be fully seen—someone I couldn’t fully recognize.

by Jino Dority
This piece was created in honor of the singer Jonghyun, a staunch supporter of the LGBTQ+ community who passed in 2017.

by Matthew Pacuruco
Over a cone of fast light comes sadness,
a chaos that consumes many things.
(An astronaut is supposed to know this part.)

by Joel Pazmiño
He knows the gravity of what happened that Wednesday morning on the highway, and who’s responsible and who’s to blame and what to do and this and that. He knows.

By Ethan Velez
“Is my husband cheating on me?”
She gives me this look. She was expecting this question, but she was still surprised I asked.

“Sunnier Morning” by Len Rivera

by Tai Coronación
Estranghero
Perpetual foreigner
Words that are permanent on my body

by Caleb Hogan
What the fuck are you talking about?
I never called you that.
That never happened.

by Alessandra Ventura
How often has the moon beheld me from afar
eagerly waiting for my phone to glow?

by Layla Barrett
Smell of piss and shit, burnt coffee, New York Times.
Women and children on trains selling sweets
Anything to help make ends meet.

By Jocelyn Carrasco
After it destroys you, saturate and add higher resolution to each scene

by Danaiya Odom
Hold on so tight they can not be swiped by the hopeless.
The restless.
The silver spooners.

“Wings of Love,” Alondra Barrales (shawl); photo by Ethan Velez. Alondra Barrales is a student at LaGuardia Community College and crocheted the “Wings of Love” shawl in March 2024. Its colors are inspired by the […]

by Akasha Weeratne
You are the man who adored the stars so passionately that their twinkle intensified whenever you were near.

by Alvi Chowdhury
My hands were becoming sweaty as my heart was racing. I tapped my foot in an attempt to calm the nerves.
Click here to view Allwood’s photographs in the 2024 issue. Interview by Tammy Browne and Christopher Schmidt You write in your contributor’s bio that you took the photographs in this portfolio when you returned to […]
Interview by Kevin Cruz What inspired you or gave you the inspiration to write this piece? What inspired me to write this piece was the idea of how my life took a turn when I […]
What inspired you to write “A Promise Goes Both Ways”? I wrote “A Promise Goes Both Ways” for my introduction to creative writing course after being prompted to create a flash fiction piece. “A Promise […]
What inspired you to write “Ode to a Strange Planet”? I actually wrote “Ode To A Strange Planet” as an assignment for a creative writing course I took last year at LaGuardia. We had to […]
What inspired you to write “Era Death”? “Era Death” was something that I randomly thought of. We’ve seen the idea of writing letters to your child self and letting them know you’ve succeeded or are […]

by Rianna Cruz The colors of summer are a beautiful sight They make so many things look better in the light, And though summer is a short flight, It can tend to feel like the […]

by Franchesca Cuba Again, in my window Waiting for his return Engrossed in my pain, the moon takes the floor Yes, the moon She tells me that he will return Let me prepare a place […]

to all the versions of myself that I’ve killed by Kaylin Rivera [CW // sexual assault] Circa 15, 16. Kaylin, Pressured by your so-called friends around you to give away the one thing that you […]

by Alexandra Rivera “Hey, bean…? If I ever become one of those things, I want you to put a bullet in my head.” I was still maintaining my faith in societal restoration and keeping track […]
What was your writing process like for this piece? In my creative writing course last semester, I was tasked with writing a flash fiction piece. I took that opportunity to write a horror story because […]
by Jasmine Chan Jasmine is a Malaysian-Chinese Queens-based illustrator and concept artist who just graduated from SVA with a BFA in Illustration. She designs and draws characters and environments for video games and animations. You […]
by Josseline Cruz Garcia Josseline Cruz Garcia is an artist based in NYC. As a queer, latinx woman with depression & PTSD she faced many difficulties in her life that she learned to overcome through […]
How did you begin this piece? Did the poem take a sudden turn that even you didn’t expect while writing? I began this piece during the early beginnings of the pandemic. Being enclosed and tightened […]

by Matthew Pacuruco [CW // suicide] Film. Broadcast. Edit. Work is almost done. I slouch when it’s already dawn. I can feel his presence from here. Noises from his footsteps make me want to look […]
by Maria Huertas Maria Huertas is a Fine Arts student at LaGuardia Community College.
by Jeannine Nixon Jeannine Nixon is a Fine Arts Major at LaGuardia Community College.

by Victoria Segarra Rolling hills of skin Comfortable, cushiony ground The strong and capable plains Of my back Blue rivers of veins, Their waters warm and comforting Beyond the peaks and dips Of my abdomen […]

Editorial intern Kevin Herrera had a few questions for author Elaine Marie Medina Is “Buzzing Bees” based on something in your personal life; and, if not, what is “Buzzing Bees” based on — what was […]