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Histoire D’amour

June 6, 2022/ Robin Gow

                                  ­       ­after Nikolai Zykov’s flying puppets

Then, I glowed lattice and ladder.

A boddice of between. In the dark I left the ground.

My gender cutting holes in shadows. Portholes

and gloryholes. Meeting selves on the other side.

Across an invented expanse, nothing arrived

but noise-less birds and their strawberry kin.
­
­

­Then I fell victim to blue’s promises.

Held onto pink beliefs of rapture and salvation.

Weightless, my legs as horizon damages.

You never saw the real me and neither did I.

Too many trestles to under-over. The laces

 of my old gravity. Pulled whirlpool into you.

­
­

Then I returned. Tripped over whale oaths.

Emerged completely changed. No more

memories of dirt. Only the night sky’s ragged tongue.

Sand paper moon, make me shine like she used to.

Her eclipse halo, the only remaining mouth.

I reenact again our bliss and bone.

La Pascualita Sees Her Reflection

              ­For over 80 years in Chihuahua, Mexico local legend holds that La Pascualita, a “mannequin” in a

local shop window, is the preserved corpse of the original shop owner’s

daughter, who died tragically on her wedding day.
­

Since I was born, even the sun had eight legs.

If only you could have seen my hands before—

soft and edible. I lived spitting petals from my mouth.

Wrapped a shawl around a yucca tree to dance with

by the white sound of moon. My father tended me.

I stared up at him from a table where we used to sew together.

Dresses for weddings—ruffles blooming from his fingers.

Memories of girls twirling. Their bones like flutes—

air moving through them. How each filled with children.

Homes swallowing them. I fell in love easily

like a bowl of mangoes spills from the table.

Bruises on my spirit. He ate from me the future.

In my eyes I still see his reflection. His dark hair

and strong jaw. The way he took my hand as someone would

the reigns of a horse. I wanted to be crafted. My father

painted each lash. Now, even he is gone.

I am fading or else I am getting closer to being ready.

Sometime, I think I see my fiancé on the street.

He stands still while others move then he is gone.

Veil pours from my skull. More and more each day.

Soon this will be a store of only my tulle and lace.

A wedding is a day that’s always coming. Look at my lips:

pink as a rosary. Moving him thumb across them.

Was it my father or my lover who last caressed them?

Put his sturdy warm hand on my neck. Told me it was not too late.

Robin Gow headshot

Robin Gow is a trans and queer poet and MG/YA author. They are the author of several poetry collections and an essay collection, as well as the YA verse novel, A Million Quiet Revolutions.

Amuse-Bouche Archive

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Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published the second Friday of every month.

Today’s course:

How to Kill a Cat, or How to Prepare for CATastrophe

March 10, 2023/in Blog / Meghan McGuire
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/51458407-FB7D-4C1F-AD98-9E3181F097C9.jpg 2288 2288 Meghan McGuire https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Meghan McGuire2023-03-10 11:55:512023-03-08 12:08:20How to Kill a Cat, or How to Prepare for CATastrophe

The Night I Want to Remember

December 16, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Sanaz Tamjidi
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/paul-volkmer-qVotvbsuM_c-unsplash-scaled-1.jpg 1704 2560 Sanaz Tamjidi https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Sanaz Tamjidi2022-12-16 16:12:142022-12-16 16:12:14The Night I Want to Remember

From Paper to the Page

November 18, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Annie Bartos
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Midnight Snack

Take a bite out of these late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

Point Break & Top Gun Are More Than Homoerotic Action Movies

March 3, 2023/in Midnight Snack / Michaela Emerson
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ECD45731-BD0A-4144-9DDE-DBE45519C4A6.jpeg 2461 1882 Michaela Emerson https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Michaela Emerson2023-03-03 23:45:542023-03-04 00:06:21Point Break & Top Gun Are More Than Homoerotic Action Movies

Mending the Heart and Slowing Down: Reintroducing Myself to Mexican Cooking

October 7, 2022/in Midnight Snack / Megan Vasquez
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/jason-briscoe-VBsG1VOgLIU-unsplash-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Megan Vasquez https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Megan Vasquez2022-10-07 23:55:352022-10-07 19:31:09Mending the Heart and Slowing Down: Reintroducing Myself to Mexican Cooking

The Worth of a Billionaire’s Words

September 23, 2022/in Midnight Snack / Kirby Chen Mages
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image2-scaled.jpeg 2560 1920 Kirby Chen Mages https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Kirby Chen Mages2022-09-23 23:56:162022-09-23 21:56:42The Worth of a Billionaire’s Words

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School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

May 12, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Brendan Nurczyk
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SL-Insta-Brendan-Nurczyk-2.png 1500 1500 Brendan Nurczyk https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Brendan Nurczyk2021-05-12 10:18:392022-02-01 13:24:05I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

A Communal Announcement

April 28, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Isabella Dail
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SL-FB-Isabella-Dail.png 788 940 Isabella Dail https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Isabella Dail2021-04-28 11:34:132021-04-28 11:34:13A Communal Announcement

Seventeen

April 14, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Abigail E. Calimaran
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Word From the Editor

Our contributors are diverse and the topics they share through their art vary, but their work embodies this mission. They explore climate change, family, relationships, poverty, immigration, human rights, gun control, among others topics. Some of these works represent the mission by showing pain or hardship, other times humor or shock, but they all carry in them a vision for a brighter world.

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