This selection, chosen by guest editor JJ Rowan, is from space neon neon space by luna rey hall, released by Variant Lit in 2022.
at the pitch meeting for my next poem
/ one of my parents ask if i could write something / universal / & when i ask them what they mean / by universal / they say / “well, we loved your old poems, / the ones that aren’t so / explicit, like anyone / could read them / & / feel.” / then the other chimes in / “the good old ironwood poems, / real oak-bark teeth poems, / the bullet mouth bullet poems, / the man / poems, the boy / poems, the damn-this-could-be-religion poems, / the worried bout’ your father poems, / the ain’t nothing wrong / with me / poems, the poems that grabbed the velvet / straight / off the antlers & wrapped it around / the moon when the moon said it was shivering, / real nightgown poems, / the poems that make us say ‘ah’ / and not ‘oh,’ / poems that make a grandpa think / ‘my grandson ain’t so bad,’ / the poem that makes a grandpa / say ‘my grandson,’ / poems that make someone say ‘son.’”
luna rey hall is a queer trans writer. they are the author of four books including the upcoming novella-in-verse the patient routine (Brigids Gate Press, 2023). her poems have appeared in The Florida Review, The Rumpus, & Raleigh Review, among others.
JJ Rowan (they/them) is a queer nonbinary writer and dancer. Their poems, not-poems, and interactive performances have appeared in the tiny, Dream Pop Journal, 45th Parallel, and at the SMOL Fair and the Splinter Collective’s Interrupted by Trains, among others. Their most recent chapbook is a simple verb (Bloof Books). They are on the editorial team at just femme & dandy. You can sign up for their newsletter, actual motion, at their website.
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