This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Ezra Fox, is from The Weather Inside by Stevie Edwards (University of Arkansas Press 2026).
Rogue
In second grade, Kendra, the storybook
blonde girl from the manicured subdivision
who took singing lessons, said to me, quiet
and cruel, in the closet with cubbies
we kept backpacks and coats in, that I was
weird. Her eyes squinted when she said it,
like she was trying to pinpoint the exact freckle
or tremor or Kmart crewneck that contained
my weirdness. Jenny with the light brown
pixie said I stared out the window
too much. And my teacher told my mother
I never spoke in class, wouldn’t volunteer
to read aloud, though I could read.
And they were all correct about me,
I feared, as I spent recesses playing
make-believe with myself, Frankenstein’s
monster roaming the playground, searching
for my promised companion. Some days
I was plagued by diseases the babysitter told me
she wanted to cure—Dimondale Elementary’s
first Ebola victim transversing the monkey bars
at record speed, blood dripping from my eyes.
Saturday mornings I would wake early
and start the coffee for my comatose parents,
curl up on the couch next to my big brother,
who I suspected was weird, too, and escape
into cartoons. My favorite was X-Men
because the mutants got to be heroes
for their weirdness. My hero
was Rogue, who was untouchable.
If you touched her skin, she absorbed
your life force. I never liked it
when grown-ups hugged me. I knew
it was dangerous to get too close,
that it was best to keep your gloves on
if you didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
Dr. Stevie Edwards (she/they) is an Assistant Professor at Clemson University and Poetry Editor of The South Carolina Review. Stevie’s poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Quiet Armor (Northwestern University Press, 2023), Sadness Workshop (Button Poetry, 2018), Humanly (Small Doggies Press, 2015), and Good Grief (Write Bloody Publishing, 2012). Her next book, The Weather Inside, is forthcoming from the University of Arkansas Press in Spring 2026 as part of the Miller Williams Poetry Series edited by Patricia Smith. She holds a PhD from the University of North Texas and an MFA from Cornell University. Originally a Michigander, she now lives in South Carolina with her spouse and a small herd of rescue pitbulls. She is on the Editorial Board at SAFTA.
Ezra Fox (they/he) is a Best of the Net nominee who lives and writes in San Francisco, CA and holds an MFA from Indiana University. A Breadloaf, Tin House, and Lambda Literary Fellow, and recipient of the Lili Elbe Memorial Scholarship, which recognizes transgender writers of exceptional promise, their work appears or is forthcoming in TriQuarterly, The Pinch, Fourteen Hills, Interim, and elsewhere. Additionally, they won the 2025 West Trade Review Poetry Prize, and currently serve as assistant judge of the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. Apart from writing, Ezra maintains a daily practice of reconnecting with their inner child: roller-skating, playing drums, and enjoying animated films and theme parks. In quieter moments, they can be found sharing cups of tea and sweet treats with their beloveds. Learn more about Ezra at ezrafox.net or on Instagram @ezraxfox. 
