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Occupation Experiments

December 4, 2022/ Joy Arbor

Is t

his a b

it of w

hat it means to be occu

pied? Beauty elsewhere.

A t

rack laid out with a deep groove.

And when you love y

our l

and, no p

lace but in the armies of love or hate.

Choose wisely.

But samud—steadfast.

C

leaving the l

and in two, c

leaving to the l

and.


Not an uncommon

occurrence, but usu

ally Procrustes c

hop(e)s off our ungainly

arms and legs embar

r as

sing p

arts hanging off the edge

but it’s an

other thing to never be al

lowed to g

row in

to y

ourself in the first p

lace. A pl

ant writhes and twists

into the s

pace you give it.

Not a straight proud back to the sky, a stem b

ends here and t

here to snatch at a d

apple of sun.

And you, who k

nows who you’d be

if allowed to a

rise without the sky hemmed in by w

alls.


I don’t w

ant to op

press you by pain

ting you as

no

thing

but victims. Do I dishonor you

by fixing my playground, my toy s

old

iers in this fami

liar pattern?

Or is this t

ruth? To com

bat the belfries

of our minds, the old swerve

to b

lame and point fingers

at you again

st me again

st you. The ene

my of my fri

end is my ene

my and the ene

my of my ene

my is my fri

end is a dead

end.

Joy Arbor Headshot

Joy Arbor is the author of the chapbook Where Are You From, Originally? (Finishing Line Press, 2016). Joy is currently working on a collection exploring the tension between being the granddaughter of a captain in Israel’s War of Independence and a human rights advocate who has traveled to the West Bank and listened to the stories of Palestinians living under Occupation. Poems from the collection have been nominated for Best of the Net, anthologized in A Human Voice, and published in Atlanta Review, Pleiades, Scoundrel Time, and others. She lives in Davis, California with her husband and son. https://joyarbor.net/.

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Genre Archive

  • Creative Nonfiction
  • Essays
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  • Flash Prose
  • Lunch Specials
  • Poetry
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Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published every Friday.

Today’s course:

The Night I Want to Remember

December 16, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Sanaz Tamjidi
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From Paper to the Page

November 18, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Annie Bartos
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Confessions of a Birthday Person

November 4, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Meghan McGuire
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/angele-kamp-poH6OvcEeXE-unsplash-scaled-1.jpg 2560 1736 Meghan McGuire https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Meghan McGuire2022-11-04 12:00:422022-12-07 19:11:45Confessions of a Birthday Person

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Midnight Snack

A destination for all your late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

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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Abyssinia

August 26, 2022/in Midnight Snack / JP Goggin
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Amuse-Bouche

Little bites every Monday to whet your appetite!

Today’s plate:

Still Life

October 31, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Daniel J. Rortvedt
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Litdish: Writing About Grief: An Interview with Jenn Koiter

October 24, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Interviewed by Gail Vannelli
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Koiter-Headshot.jpeg 1983 1586 Interviewed by Gail Vannelli https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Interviewed by Gail Vannelli2022-10-24 11:55:162022-10-24 10:10:07Litdish: Writing About Grief: An Interview with Jenn Koiter

Dawn from Buffy Learns About Climate Change

October 10, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Alyson Mosquera Dutemple
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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Dutempleauthorpic_2022.jpg 1389 1466 Alyson Mosquera Dutemple https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Alyson Mosquera Dutemple2022-10-10 11:48:192022-10-10 14:29:12Dawn from Buffy Learns About Climate Change

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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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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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https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SL-Insta-Abigail-E.-Calimaran.png 1080 1080 Abigail E. Calimaran https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Abigail E. Calimaran2021-04-14 11:22:062021-04-14 11:22:06Seventeen

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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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