Gifts by Patrice Boyer Claeys From Mother: a crystal bowl—sleek sides tapering to weighted base lead-heavy, incised, its clean design bright on the counter. For condiments, she said. Her aim was to emboss time, add pleasure to both guest…
Browsing: MER Online
Dear Matthew by Brenda Bellinger No doubt this letter has already been opened for you. I’m trying to picture you now, age-progressed since I held you in my arms when you were two months old. You were an adorable…
Silver Linings An MER VOX Folio Curated by Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach Since the 2016 election, the news has been mostly terrible. Both online and offline we have been barraged 24/7 by an overwhelming level of toxicity. We’d…
Christina Springer
Keisha Molby-Baez Seeds Planted My birth name Keisha My heavenly name Child of God My family names daughter, sister, niece, aunt My union name wife My universal name friend My poet name Coco The best name of all, Mother…
Julia Lisella Charlotte’s Zinnias Each pop of brazen orange or hot pink quivers as Charlotte’s legs cross over her hand-made fence her basket following in the mess of multicolored swiss chard and flowering basil. I head the tops…
Radhiyah Ayobami how maybelle survived new york who needed the north / when there was the smell of gardenias at night as she slept between two big sisters in a hollow / of skin & smell so when girls at…
Catherine Esposito Prescott Palm Blossoms From down the block they look like a layer of snow. Hundreds have fallen from the palm tree, flowers white and yellow- green, round, orbital like planets from another galaxy with tens of…
Allia Abdullah-Matta Allia Abdullah-Matta is a poet and teacher-scholar who uses creativity and artistic expression as instruments of social justice activism and transformation. She is an Associate Professor at CUNY LaGuardia, holds a graduate degree in Africana Studies…
Jen Karetnick Brief Portrait of Millennials as a Nebulizer; Or, There Are Reasons to Breathe Without disruption, without deliberate thought. Without disconnection like a dropped call on a highway far away from a cellphone tower. Without asking permission…