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The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Affidavit by Starr Davis


This selection, chosen by Guest Editor Claudia Santos, is from Affidavit by Starr Davis (Hanging Loose Press 2026).

Content Warning: domestic violence

EXHIBIT LIST OF SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

  1. Exhibit A1 – Police record my body never made ’cause bodies like mine don’t call the police
  2. Exhibit A2 – Palimpsest memories stored in my blood overwritten by the movant’s narcissism
  3. Exhibit A3 – My bruised forearm in response to me congratulating a friend on Twitter
  4. Exhibit A4 – My reddened neck in response to asking to phone my family members
  5. Exhibit A5 – The hidden biochemical governance of the undeparted postpartum
  6. Exhibit A6 – Police Report I dreamed up in response to a call I thought of but never made
  7. Exhibit A7 – Unforeseen text message to my mama which contains an erased plea for help ’cause I knew better than to go down there with that boy I ain’t know that well anyways
  8. Exhibit A8 – The audio recording I never recorded ’cause he said he wouldn’t do it again
  9. Exhibit A9 – A recording of dirge saying he would kill me and take the baby if I thought of leaving
  10. Exhibit A10 – The oneiromancy of my pregnancy
  11. Exhibit A11 – Police record my body never made
  12. Exhibit A12 – Police record my body never made
  13. Exhibit A13 – Police record my body never made
  14. Exhibit A14 – Police record my body never made
  15. Exhibit A15 – Police record my body never made
  16. Exhibit A16 – Police record my body never made
  17. Exhibit A17 – Police record my body never made
  18. Exhibit A18 – Police record my body never made
  19. Exhibit A19 – Police record my body never made
  20. Exhibit A20 – Police record my body never made

Starr Davis (she/her) is a poet and essayist whose work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Academy of American Poet’s Poem-a-Day, and The Rumpus. She was the 2024 Writing Freedom Fellow with Haymarket Books and the Mellon Foundation. 

Claudia Santos (she/her) is a Mexican reader and writer. She received the PECDA Colima 2024 writing grant for her non-fiction work and was a Sophia-FILCO Young Writers 2025 finalist for her poetry work. She is currently pursuing an MA in Children’s Literature as a EMJM scholarship recipient.


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