Tag: poetry

letter from the editor, news

Letter from the Editor

Dearest DDR followers, readers, writers, and lovely creatures all around,

So it’s that time again. Time to take a break so we can get our sh*t together. 

And though we won’t be publishing anything new on the site till the end of the summer we will still be reading submissions for fall so please, keep sending us all your goodies! Ladies send us your flash, poetry, art, photography… Send it all.  

Also, on a super happy note, we are going to start accepting creative nonfiction! More on that shortly but to give you an idea the guidelines will be the same as flash fiction.  Send us up to 3 creative nonfiction stories, each story no more than 1000 words.

We aren’t disappearing. We will be around reading all your fine submissions.  And as always, previous contributors, let us know if you have anything going on. A book reading, a forthcoming chapbook, etc. We would love to share the news!

Happy writing & reading friends!

Abbie Copeland
Editor-in-Chief

poetry

3 Poems – Anastasia K. Gates

 

*
Feed me the stars—
if I am born of stardust, 
what I crave is the taste 
of my own making.
*


 

 

 

 

*
“Peaches and cream 
warm as toast
soft as silk”
in this love, she woke me 
before i’d guess the color 
of her bra
*


 

 

 

 

*
Dear self: like a copper spoon pulled 
from fire, you melt then scoop me up
*


 

 

 

—

Anastasia K. Gates is an emerging poet, memoirist, and artist from Pennsylvania. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Vanuatu and Zambia and is a current student at Columbia University. Her work unearths the voice of global womanhood that wanders the natural landscape. She takes solace in the quietude of the forest, the fire of the sun, and the infinite universe within.

Follow her on Instagram @anastasiakgates.

poetry

Rib – Naomi Ruth Lowinsky

The long-tortured years
are flung away

in one fell swoop
and you’re my young

laughing mother
calling me “rippe”

German for rib
because I’m such

a skinny girl
as you were once

a skinny girl
before the great assault

of blood   
of breasts

 

—

Naomi Ruth Lowinsky’s poems have been widely published, most recently in Serving House Journal, Ginosko and Stickman. Her poem “Madelyn Dunham, Passing On” won first prize in the Obama Millennium Contest. She has also won the Blue Light Poetry Chapbook Contest. Lowinsky’s fourth poetry collection is The Faust Woman Poems.

poetry

For Mom – Lourdes A. Gautier

 

When I wear a color other than black, brown, tan or grey, 

it is my mother’s love of all things bright and beautiful 

that influences those choices.  

 

When I dance and sway to some Latin beat, 

it is my mother’s love of all things music 

that stirs the same in me.  

 

When I love my children more than I can express,

it is my mother’s unconditional love 

that she taught me to give.

 

When I long for a place to call home

it is because my mother gave up

and left me with none.

 

—

Lourdes A. Gautier resides in Bergen County, NJ. Her short story, 1952, was published in Acentos Review.  Her poems have appeared in Calliope and in the Silver Birch Press. She is also a contributor to the award-winning anthology, “These Winter Months: The Late Orphan Project.”

 

poetry

Lavender Lazarus – Mary Sims

& the truth is, I could have
done it. Could have ripped

the animal from my jaw,
could have bruised the bone

of this body until it gave way. 
But some things don’t spark

right & I know my name now.
Twelve sinners poured over

for the saint we all knew couldn’t
be, but we’re still here. The whole

time we choked quiet like a learned 
thing & thought how when the body

folds out what it cannot open, 
we too can shape a crease. 

 

—

Mary Sims is a 19-year-old poet and writer published in The Poetry Annals, Kingdoms of the Wild, Mooky Chick, Anatolios Magazine, Moonchild Magazine, and more. She is currently working on her BA in English, and spends her days reading, collecting books, and exploring antique shops.

Find her on Twitter: @rhymesofblue

 

 

Feature Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash