This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Ezra Fox, is from The Weather Inside by Stevie Edwards (University of Arkansas Press 2026).
Hotness
I want to write a slutty poem about how I am sweaty
and yearning for your body five state lines away,
how your cock is the only cock for me. I want to be
vulgar and loving. But I keep thinking about how
it’s been the three hottest days recorded in history
and this unairconditioned Vermont studio may be
the hotbox I die in. I want to believe in a higher
power, one that will shepherd the Earth
out of its burning, but I believe that humans
will extinguish ourselves and that the Earth will keep
turning through the galaxy without us and whatever
animals and plants and microorganisms survive us
will be better off. But that’s not true, not
entirely. The dogs will starve, so adapted to
serving us and being served by us. I am trying
to find some greater purpose in all our plunder
and all I can come up with is that dogs
would be lonely without us and there is something
innocent about staying alive for dogs—
there is nothing innocent in the way I want
you to pin me down, but maybe there is
something noble in the way I want the Earth to die
just a little slower to give you enough time.
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.
