Bay To Break My Mind: On the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Summer of Love Being Shut Down

March 7, 2017

All I could feel for certain was that it certainly wasn’t "a happening" as the very un-groovy bellows got closer and louder still. So close now I could no longer ignore whatever the impending invasion was. I crept back up to the road’s edge, still remaining hidden behind the thick brush. As the ever-increasing loudness grew, other noises were revealed and morphed into a swirling soundscape mixing into 500.1 3-D audio channeling into the mixing board of my mind with all knobs twiddling. Rising low rumbles of many drums banging out of sync with high pitched whistles clattering atop like hard rain on a hot tin hangar roof.

CREDO: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Trump_SNL — CREDO: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Trump_SNL

Trumpectomy: An Individual and Collective Reckoning

March 6, 2017

As a woman and mother who self-identifies as a multiracial Mexicana and who is a special education professor, I see our new president as the antithesis of all I have ever believed in and strived for. His views on women, immigrants, Mexicans, and those with disabilities have begun to impact federal, state, and local policies that aim to protect – though not always well – the rights and liberties of "minorities" or all those who are not "privileged" by their gender, status, or background in our country. I have watched in horror and unabashed astonishment as constitutional rights, such as the right to assemblage and freedom of speech, have been narrowly interpreted and have limited, to varying degrees, freedoms to which we have had access.

Poetry by Peter Milne Greiner

March 6, 2017

Peter Milne Greiner is the author of the chapbook Executive Producer Chris Carter (The Operating System 2014). His poems, science fiction, and other writings have appeared in Fence, Omni Reboot, H_NGM_N, Diner Journal, InDigest, Coldfront, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

Poetry by Maria Pinto

March 3, 2017

Maria Pinto was born in Jamaica and grew up in South Florida. Her work has appeared or will appear in FriGG, Necessary Fiction, Word Riot, Pinball, and The Butter, among others. She was an Ivan Gold Fellow at the Writers' Room of Boston, in the city where she reads for FLAPPERHOUSE and does karaoke. Her debut novel is in search of a home. She's working on the next.

Liebre en el ejido: Poetry by José Antonio Rodríguez

March 2, 2017

BY JOSÉ ANTONIO RODRÍGUEZ
CURATED BY CECILIA LLOMPART

Liebre en el ejido

Por fin sale de su pozo
y su cuerpo acurrucado
se tisna con el humo desganado
de la basura que mis padres queman
por la húmeda tarde,
ante la vista de los vecinos.

Olfatea el plástico de la botella
que se retuerse entre las llamas
como chicharrones de cerdo
y cierra los ojos. Empieza
a caminar como una anciana.
No sé de sus años en el pozo.

Las parcelas se achican
ante las anchas carreteras.
La acequia se hace chorro
y el panteón se cree rey
con tantas coronas.
Ni siquiera voltea a ver

los trosos de papa
que tengo en mi mano.
Se va porque no quiere probar
las escarchas rosadas de mi casa.
¿Debo también celebrar su partida?

Aquí no se celebran los cumpleaños
porque llaman al recuerdo del nacimiento
que es la prueba de la concepción
que jamás se piensa —
como el sabor del terrón desmoronado
entre los dientes. Las velas se encienden
sólo para la iglesia.

La liebre se va
y el panteón se burla de mí.

José Antonio Rodríguez's books include The Shallow End of Sleep, Backlit Hour, and House Built on Ashes: A Memoir. His work has appeared widely in Poetry, The New Republic, Huizache, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing program at UT-Rio Grande Valley. Learn more at www.JARodriguez.org

Cecilia Llompart is the Spanish Poetry Editor for Luna Luna Magazine.

Poetry by Danielle Susi

February 28, 2017

Danielle Susi is the author of the chapbook The Month in Which We Are Born (dancing girl press, 2015). Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Knee-Jerk Magazine, Hobart, and The Rumpus, among many other publications. She received her MFA in writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Newcity has named her among the Top 5 Emerging Chicago Poets. Find her online at daniellesusi.com

Interview with Devon Moore, Author of 'Apology of a Girl Who Is Told She Is Going to Hell'

February 27, 2017

I’ve known Devon since grad school, and I was overjoyed to see how her work—which has always been fantastic—has grown. This book is visceral and dynamic, rife with rich images and strange settings, “spaces that are theaters for the soul” (Bruce Smith): oceans and dreamscapes full of chucacabras, attics and deathbeds. There’s a wine-dark, pensive intricacy in Devon’s poems that left the tang of metal at the back of my tongue. There’s an unflinching eye, a resolute grittiness that plumbs longing, shame, and girlhood in America.

Debunking the Writer’s Block Myth: Create Content Every Day

February 24, 2017

The biggest secret to writing well is that there aren’t any secrets. Maintaining a blog or writing a book takes the same type of skill, and that’s organization. That means, creating a schedule, an environment, and taking the time to research. When we talk about writer’s block, we are really talking about disorganization and waiting for those “idea” moments to happen. Like lightning, inspiration does strike—just not often and fades before our very eyes.

This Dreamy Retro Playlist Is Everything You Need Right Now

February 22, 2017

We could all stand to surround ourselves with love more. There's really no better time to foster the relationships with the people around you than during times of strife and turmoil, both personal and political (and isn't the political always personal?). To get you in the mood, here's a playlist full of some of the best love songs around.

Starting from the Center: Magickal Approaches to Protecting Boundaries

February 21, 2017

For adult survivors of child abuse, boundaries are a lifelong struggle. We are taught early that chaos reigns and that anything can and will happen at any time. We alternate between hypervigilance and radical openness, and our wires are so tangled that we often cannot figure out which of these responses is appropriate in the moment. We spend our lives letting the wrong people in, and lashing out at the right ones, until we become conscious of the pattern and begin working to rewire our own brains.

When Pop Goes Gothique: A Music Video Roundup

February 20, 2017

Here's what happens when popular music gets darkly glamorous...

Poetry by Steven Cordova

February 17, 2017

Steven Cordova is the 2012 first-place winner of the International Reginald Shepherd Memorial Poetry Prize. His first full-length poetry collection, Long Distance, appeared in 2010 from Bilingual University Press. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

A Dark & Moody Playlist to Get Your Creativity Flowing

February 15, 2017

I often write to music. I find music helps set a tone and atmosphere that is hard to do on my own, especially if I'm in a public space like a coffee shop (and I often am). Here's a playlist that helps get me in the mood to write/make art: