University of San Francisco's Student-Run Literary Magazine
by Johnny T. Chaos what else but chaos spinning around my head in the back of the chapel of the school where she pulled me not her first kiss but mine her pulling me alone by the hand my first time holding hands even the soft fingers stuck between mine soft and wet and warm… Continue reading The Creation
by Derek R. Smith Nothing hits harder Than cold waves on rocky beaches Except maybe a poet who’s Inspired by this whole well-trod Metaphorical scene where Ocean kisses land. Then when the poet spots A single clear blueish chunk of Beach glass underfoot Amongst the gray rocks It all appears, the movie montage, How an… Continue reading Breaking
by Zachary Hodges the lilac of his touch, ever-cream skin glistening as we bask in the light of a newly dawned era. the lives we’ve lived through the men of the past, loving strangers not safe for the average lambda lover. and the black and white photo rolls, the delicacy in their hand holds, how… Continue reading pink triangles
by August Chaffin My father asked me if I’d ever written any poems about him. “There’s one about your black widow bite.” I said, “it was an allegory.” I revealed no more. I was too scared he’d understand what I’ve been trying to say for my whole life. movement 3 by Sopi August Chaffin (he/him/his)… Continue reading In the Car
by Alden Wallace Against my will and wholly ignorant of it the leaves are falling again. The sky floats by the glass. The grey sea rages under a grey sky dotted with crows sailing home. O to be soaring and knowing all. Made of clay but today feeling like stone—sand pulled back slowly into the… Continue reading Big Rain from a Small Cloud
by Colin Keating 1 I’m in imminent danger of getting Way Too Psyched. I’ll try to end this song sweetly but no promises. My back hurts and my neck is a cubicle. The airtight compartment of my life is collapsing into a traffic cone, a backwash attendant, your own megaphone… But! All my fucking quilting… Continue reading Let’s Get a Party Started (I’m Fucking Serious)
by Trisha Chen i tuck myself into a quiet-corner cookie cutter shape of a person, i ignore the bumps, the creaks, the peaks, the valleys, i shine a flashlight at my own pupils in the mirror hoping to see into the dark pitfall, i feel saltwater pushing at my waterline dam. i push against the… Continue reading bitter and better are one vowel apart
by Charles Kell There were beads in the trees, hair & water mixing in a torn reflection. New Orleans, drunk on hurricanes & thinking of Li Po: The birds are gone / and people are few! Days were sweltering— I watched for a long time a rusty trumpet float on Pontchartrain. Nights were cooler. I… Continue reading Book of Windows
by Deirdre Hickey When I was only eleven you called me Aphrodite, sticking your finger into my hips, when my body first began to look a little more like yours. Already you told me I had what you wanted, a body ripe like a hummingbird, smooth fruit of sliced peach, bones dripping with sweet wine,… Continue reading They Long to Be (Close to You)
by Steven O. Young Jr. I thought up a story for you. Honest! And it’s not that I can’t remember what it is, though I’m racking my brain, rummaging around these russet roots as if it somehow seeped through my scalp, putting on a good show. It’s simple and straightforward. Too simple and straightforward. It’s… Continue reading Storytelling
