Jacqueline Valencia : Five bugs

 

 

 

 

There were five dead bugs
in the light fixture above me
thoughts about them pierced my tongue
the bell in my mouth swallowed whole.

Light too bright for them to see where they were going
hot so there must be food in there
or maybe one of the other bugs
wanted to explore and followed suit
they might have died at different times
Going in, each bug knowing it wasn’t right
didn’t know what else to do
once it slid in, no way out
resigned to its fate
looked away or embraced the light above
curling up its legs to make itself as small
as possible, a thought of escape
too terrifying to even consider. 

Did they think of lush green gardens or even carpets
that they called home?
Dust or dusk is all the same when you’re dying
you will never see the difference
nothing will ever be pure again
for you
now there were only be confusion
you are tainted and desiccated
you trusted the monster
who pulled you in

I am a landlocked child
taken and dissected on a carpet
pinned, surrounded and alone
at one hundred years old
wanting to be re-greened
given something, saved, instead
emptied so much
to be
looking up at five bugs in a light fixture
wishing I could fly up and curl up.

 

 

 

 

Jacqueline Valencia is a Toronto-based writer/editor/critic and earned her Honours BA in English at the University of Toronto. She is the author of various essays and poetry books, including There Is No Escape Out of Time (Insomniac Press, 2016). She is a project partner at Poetry inPrint and a member of The Writers' Union of Canada. Currently working on her next poetry collection tentatively titled, Space.

Megan Burns, Jacqueline Valencia, Sadiqa de Meijer, Heather Sweeney + Hailey Higdon : the virtual reading series #5

a series of video recordings of contemporary poets reading from their work, prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellations, shut-downs and isolations; a reading series you can enjoy in the safety of your own protected space,

Megan Burns : “Observations”

Megan Burns is the publisher at Trembling Pillow Press (tremblingpillowpress.com). She is the co-director of the New Orleans Poetry Festival (nolapoetry.com) and has been hosting the Blood Jet Poetry Reading Series in New Orleans for the last six years. She has been most recently published in Jacket Magazine, Callaloo, New Laurel Review, Dream Pop, and Diagram. Her poetry and prose reviews have been published in Tarpaulin Sky, Gently Read Lit, Big Bridge, and Rain Taxi. She has three books: Memorial + Sight Lines (2008), Sound and Basin (2013) and Commitment (2015) published by Lavender Ink. Her recent chapbooks include: her Twin Peaks chap, Sleepwalk With Me (Horse Less Press, 2016), Beneath the Drift (Red Mare, 2019) and FUCK LOVE: I’m sorry someone hurt you (Shirt Pocket Press, 2019). Her fourth collection, BASIC PROGRAMMING, was published by Lavender Ink in 2018. Her forthcoming collection is called PLURALITY.

Jacqueline Valencia : “La Chusa,” “You are as frightful as an engine developed,” both from Lilith (desert pets press, 2018)

Jacqueline Valencia is a Toronto-based writer and earned her Honours BA in English at the University of Toronto. She is the author of Lilith (Desert Pets Press, 2018), There Is No Escape Out Of Time (Insomniac Press, 2016) and is the founding editor of These Girls On Film. Jacqueline is the organizer of The Toronto Poetry Talks (Racism and Sexism in the Craft), 2015. She is a project partner at Poetry inPrint.

Sadiqa de Meijer : “Incantation” and “Red-Eye”

The Outer Wards (Vehicule) is Sadiqa de Meijer’s second poetry collection. Leaving Howe Island, was a nominee for the 2014 Governor General’s Award for English-language poetry and for the 2014 Pat Lowther Award. Her memoir of her first language, alfabet / alphabet, will be published with Palimpsest Press in September 2020. She lives with her family in Kingston, Ontario.

Heather Sweeney : “#Pepper,” “#Neck” and “#Sorrow”

Heather Sweeney, she/her, lives in San Diego where she writes, teaches and does visual art.  Her chapbooks include Just Let Me Have This (Selcouth Station Press) and Same Bitch, Different Era: The Real Housewives Poems (above/ground press). Her collections, Dear Marshall, Language is Our Only Wilderness (Spuyten Duyvil Press) and Call Me California (Finishing Line Press) are both forthcoming. You can also find her at https://www.heathercsweeney.com

Hailey Higdon : “Outtakes,” from Dream Pop Journal (https://www.dreampoppress.net/hailey-higdon/).

Hailey Higdon’s debut collection, Hard Some, is available from Spuyten Duyvil Publications (2019). Find her online at haileyhigdon.com.