by Raisa Zannat On a bright winter morning, I waited inside an army jeep parked outside of a red guesthouse in Sajek Valley, a little valley located in the mountainous southern part of Bangladesh. My uncle […]
Adventure
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 […]
I Don’t Believe in Subtlety
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 […]
Some Questions for Matthew Pacuruco
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 […]
Cold Show
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 […]
Life
by Maria Huertas Maria Huertas is a Fine Arts student at LaGuardia Community College.
Thrift Shop
by Maria Clara Some questions we had for the artist… What is the inspiration behind your art? The inspiration behind my art is fear. Fear prevents us from doing stuff that we enjoy, just because […]
Senses Of Grief
by Melony Hodge Butterflies, corner eyes, reflections on dark screens. Quick looks, Red, red, red, red, red, and red again. Mickey Mouse and vivid dreams. Loud noises, unexplained. Cackling laughs, mischievous baby girl. So many […]
Sage
by Maria Clara Maria C. Perez is a Venezuelan artist who moved to New York four years ago looking for better opportunities. She works with different mediums and subjects to experiment with the different styles […]
I Pledge Allegiance
by Dom Glover [after Danez Smith] You remember how in school they used to make us recite the Pledge of Allegiance? Each morning our young undeveloped overstimulated selves would be giddier than a motherfucker […]
Remembering When
by Melony Hodge Home. It’s still there. Even after all the other addresses 878, where it all began. I remember When Holiday traditions bled into growing up When love and magic kept us fed Cookouts, […]
Mine
by Robbie Atienza There is something in the walls. I can feel it. Sometimes, I sense that I’m being watched, observed, like a fish in a glass bowl. These last few months, it’s as though […]
Shine LaGuardia
by Jeannine Nixon Jeannine Nixon is a Fine Arts Major at LaGuardia Community College.
Three Poems
by Paris Armstrong Existential Sex The sweat at his brow slides down, then up, following touch Gasps and laughter start and stop haltingly Quiet now, be quiet. Too loud or they might hear Her lips […]
The Cardboard Piano
by David Garate (Within the confines of a shoebox, amongst a vast crowd of paperfish). He is laborious, The one on the cardboard piano. One of many who climb the stairs And waltz on stage. […]
My Best Friend
by Juan Paredes Some days I miss you dearly On bad days you consoled me On good days you celebrated with me When reality gets too much you embrace me No matter where I’m […]
Childhood Fragments
by Favi Olmedo Chaotic mornings. Shoes scattered across the living room floor. Missing hairbrush, untamable bedhead. Blurting things out at random times. At the wrong times. Being carried after a bath, to bed, just because. […]
Ode to a Strange Planet
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 […]
Some Questions for Elias Bailey
What inspired you to write “Inseparable”? My inspiration for Inseparable is the loss of my mother and father so close together just prior to Covid. They stay on my mind constantly, and I’m sure they […]
Inseparable
by Elias Bailey Above you, father, a video montage is displaying the most joyful and carefree moments of your life before we met. Wonderful images of you as a little boy playing with your siblings, […]
Some Questions for Edernis Adames
What inspired you to write “Breaking the Mold”? Breaking the Mold was actually an assignment for English 101. We were asked to write a narrative about the turning points in our academic careers. I chose […]
Breaking the Mold
by Edernis Adames The lopsided desk wobbled as I took a seat. My legs barely fit under it. I moved my arm to reveal the etchings that covered the wooden top of the desk, one […]
Some Questions for Viviana Peña
What inspired you to write “The Birth”? I was inspired to write “The Birth” by an experience I had during labor. I realized while writing this story how deep the wounds were from my experience, […]
The Birth
by Viviana Peña It was time for Francesca to push, she felt exhausted from being poked and prodded. The repeated questions from the nurse about how she was feeling made her anxious. She wished she […]
Some Questions for Arben Alovic
What inspired you to “Cherry Blossoms”? Call me a sucker for a love poem? In all reality, I’m really not a love poet. I can’t say I ever have been, but I wanted to capture […]
Some Questions for Alicia Evans
What inspired you to write “Love in Quarantine”? During COVID I thought about what happens now to the couples that were living as roommates. Now they are forced to spend time together, to speak to […]
Some Questions for Angelica I. Ayala
What inspired you to write “Sunlight”? My mental health journey inspired me to create this poem. With my partner by my side, it has definitely given me the motivation to step into sunlight instead of […]
Some Questions for Clare Kenefick
What inspired you to write “Polarized Politics”? I have been writing more poems again in the past year or so and I am the only one who usually gets to see them. One of my […]
Some Questions for Kiara Byrd
What inspired you to write “Blank”? I wrote this piece for my ENG271 course this semester, my Professor Carrie Conners thought that the poetry my class wrote at that point was really good and that […]
Some Questions for Marlin Muñoz
What inspired you to write “Song for My Beloved”? What inspired me to write the poem that was submitted in The Lit in Spring 2022 was the original poem of Diane Di Prima “Song for […]
Some Questions for Michael Ferrin
What inspired you to write “Paradise”? I had spent some time thinking about my relationship with my father, I guess more specifically, the relationship my siblings and I have with my father. It is a […]
Some Questions for Özgür Peksen-Saccone
What inspired you to write “One Suitcase, Two Languages”? For ENG 101 I was a student of Prof. Tara Coleman. She introduced me to the writer Amy Tan. We read one of her stories, “Mother […]
Some Questions for Samantha Morgan
What inspired you to write “My First Funeral is Yours”? It was maybe my second or third Creative Writing class, which I’m currently taking at LaGuardia, when my professor asked that we “Write what we […]
Editors’ Introduction
As we worked on the Spring 2022 Issue for The Lit, the world outside kept inundating us. At the start of the semester, we were still living under COVID, and at some point we had […]
2022 Masthead Viviana Peña Viviana served as co-editor in chief for The Lit. She is a single mother of two born and raised in New York City. She’s a full-time Creative Writing […]
El Loco
by Ethan Velez No one could tell you where El Loco came from. El Loco didn’t know himself and he never spoke a word. Some said he was not human, that his voice was stolen. […]
Love in Quarantine
by Alicia Evans Charles is already on the front lawn when Michelle arrives. He hands her the noise maker that they use during their New Year’s celebration. At exactly seven o’clock they join their neighbors […]
Letting Go
by Stephanie Barrera Moran Stephanie Barrera Moran is a Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities major at LaGuardia Community College. Her self portrait includes linocut printmaking and the use of acrylic paint. She’s using flowers […]
Statue of Transition
by Maria Clara Perez Maria Clara Perez is Fine Arts student at LaGuardia Community College from Venezuela, who moved 3 years ago and is still experiencing the unlimited beauty of New York while expressing her […]
Art Work
by blessing kalu wilson blessing kalu wilson is an art student of LaGuardia Community College. This is their first published art work.
