Riesling

by Laila Jones

you’ve decided
to kick off your shoes.
without hesitation,
no regard to your woman.

as your shoes fall, your feet rise
to the coffee table I built.
out of every poem I’d written about you.
sock stained cursive, one plate
when there’s room for two.

cream chrysanthemums spotted brown
in the foggy vase I begged you to change.
petals withering, almost as quickly as us.

your love comes in canned beer stained rugs
while mine comes in corked wine, brand new.
waiting to be opened by you.

—Riesling

Kellen’s Tenderloin

by Kellen Stahl

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Laila Jones is a twenty-three-year-old aspiring poet from Philadelphia, PA. She writes to create a safe space for readers to feel seen and heard in their experiences. Her work may tug at your heartstrings. Laila strives to allow the reader to resonate with every poem and hopes to grow her craft and expand.

Kellen Stahl was a nonbinary pillar of the recovering community at the Salvation Army Harbor Lights Residential Treatment Center in San Francisco. They passed away of natural causes in the middle of the Covid pandemic, three years sober. Their sketches of San Francisco are testimony to their love of The City.