This selection, chosen by guest editor Sarah Clark, is from I could die today and live again by Summer Farah (Game Over Books 2023).
Interlude: Parallel Playing w/U
for jess
forgive me. i am forgetting that which is good / in service / of narrative. / in the needle aisle of a craft store i confess i am afraid of getting close to someone again. lines crease the corner of my eyes / phantom laughter / relics of the voices i will not hear again, unless / the worlds are small. / each made up of archetypes / repeated across titles&endcards / but not within / in this lifetime there is a princess & a hero / no more / no less / in the next there will be too, / unless / consider: the end of the map / where the rock walls blur / & the abyss endless / costing ¼ heart with each fall. / again, again, i try / i want to know what lies at the bottom / consider, the abyss: a reset point. / selves that always return / to the ledge how lonely it can be / to be a certain type of character. singular purpose. looped dialogue. how lucky am i to find someone / who slots into the same role / a friendship can be found / in serendipity / of reading the same story at the same time / without the other knowing / found in sitting side-by-side / i play on the tv & you play handheld & the humm of our systems are complementary / the gentlest of silences / habit / found in i watch a show & you will exist next to me / until, we wait for the next season, together /& the gentlest of silences filled by shared guilt / we talk of the unmeasurable weight / of wanting to do good / twinned in our overwhelm / of how to serve / well / of how to be kind, & disbelief / in those who won’t do the same / we can practice here / & consider, the space between two couch cushions: the smallest of worlds / teach me your obsessions for when i miss you most / & i will help you fight monsters in the depths / pray i look cool / even if i fuck up / tell me tell me tell me / about your progress / in that other game / & i promise i won’t ruin the rest / consider: the sequel grants us who gravitate towards the edge / second chance / a curious reward / another kingdom / to touch / instead of / please tell me & tell me & tell me / we’ll never get tired of this
Summer Farah is a Palestinian American writer, editor, and zine-maker from California. Her chapbook I could die today and live again (Game Over Books, 2024) explores a childhood corrupted by empire, inspired by The Legend of Zelda. Summer is a member of the Radius of Arab American Writers and the National Book Critics Circle. Her debut full-length collection, The Hungering Years, is forthcoming from Host Publications in 2026. She is calling on you to recommit yourself to the liberation of the Palestinian people each day.
Sarah Clark is a mad crip genderfuck two-spirit enrolled Nanticoke editor, writer, and cultural consultant. They are Editor-in-Chief and Poetry Editor at ANMLY, Editor-in-Chief at ALOCASIA: a journal of queer plant-based writing, and Editor-in-Chief at beestung. They are an editor on the Bettering American Poetry series, and a current Board member and Assistant Editor at Sundress Publications. They have edited folios for publications including the GLITTERBRAIN folio and a folio on Indigenous & Decolonial Futures & Futurisms at ANMLY. Sarah freelances, and has worked with a number of literary and arts publications and organizations, including the Best of the Net anthology, contemptorary, Curious Specimens, #PoetsResist at Glass Poetry, Apogee Journal, Blackbird, the Paris Review, and elsewhere.
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