The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Palm Up, Fingers Curled by Abby Lewis

This selection, chosen by Guest Editor Romy Ewing, is from Palm Up, Fingers Curled by Abby Lewis (Plan B Press, 2023).

Content Warning: sexual violence

Snippets—I Can’t

“Sometimes I can’t tell if I like a girl
as a friend or as girlfriend material.”

Snippets of a conversation overheard
in passing while boarding the subway.

Sometimes I can’t tell whether
I speak aloud or in my paper-thin head.

It does not help that things
                echo here in the chambers of Manhattan.

I can’t tell if I can hear
                 correctly, if I can see the faces correctly.

Sometimes I think I see
myself. Material becomes immaterial

like a chain of paper angels, wings
                severed with each gentle snip of the doors.

Abby N. Lewis (she/her) is the author of the full-length poetry collection Reticent (2016) and the chapbook This Fluid Journey (2018). She has two masters from East Tennessee State University, and she is currently pursuing an MLIS degree. Her creative work has recently appeared in Up the Staircase Quarterly, Across the Margin, Black Moon Magazine, and Red Eft Review. Her book reviews can frequently be found on Chapter 16’s website. She lives in Tennessee, where she wears many hats as a librarian, educator, tutor, and reviewer.

Romy Rhoads Ewing (she/her) writes from Sacramento, CA, where she was born and raised. Her work has appeared in HAD, Oyez Review, Rejection Letters, Bullshit Lit, Major 7th Magazine, and more. Her poetry chapbook please stay was published in 2024 by Bottlecap Press. Her hybrid zine, someday [everybody but] us will laugh about all of this, was briefly physically distributed at the 3rd Annual Hallow-Zine Fest and is available digitally. She also edits poetry and nonfiction for JAKE and runs the archival site SACRAMENTO DIRTBAG ARCHIVES. She can be found at romyrhoadsewing.xyz