BY MONIQUE QUINTANA
Founded in 2015 by Catch Business and Elle Nash, the seventh issue of Witch Craft Magazine is filled with nerve-wracking fun and the lush grotesque, all while reflecting on the social complexities of the current pandemic. Colleen Barnett's wrap-around cover art is a cool-toned photograph of gnashing teeth gushing with blood. With the interior book design by Joel Amat Güell, the pocket-sized volume is full of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and interviews, many of the pieces blurring the lines of form and genres.
The written work was accompanied by a fine curation of black and white images by many artists such as Ro, Ikosidio, Dian Liang, Claire Ma, and Alejandra López Camarillo. This was my first time reading the magazine. The brevity of the pieces and the formatting helped me read at a feverish pace in a single sitting.
I look forward to reading future installments of this radical, sexy, and dangerous publication.
Standouts from this issue include:
Nikolai Garcia's " Noche Buena ": " Her smile is a wink, and I let my sad guard down. I tell myself I don't have much, but I have her attention. I lie and say I like the vegan tamales. "
Felicia Rosemary Urso's " Compulsion ": " Spring did come, and I tried to pull our taffy body into two. A tug of war between my self-will and my gut, my actions refused to line with my desire. I was a gecko and you were my tail. You'd fall off, just to grow back. "
David Joez Villaverde, " As Below, So Above ": " Being here on the physical plane means we exercise corporeal power and the response to the ailments of this world is not to pour energy and will out into the ether but to wield our focus and control to change the things around us, to carry our intention in our words and deeds that we might transform the fabric of this corruption into harmony. "
Tex Gresham in " Interview with V. Ruiz": " Ancestors who have been quiet are waking up in new ways and guiding their lineage to make drastic shifts. "
Monique Quintana is from Fresno, CA, and the author of Cenote City (Clash Books, 2019). She has been awarded fellowships to Yaddo, The Mineral School, the Sundress Academy of the Arts, the Community of Writers, and the Open Mouth Poetry Retreat. You can find her @quintanagothic and moniquequintana.com.
