The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Catherine Garbinsky, is from The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney (Illuminated Press 2024).

The Usual Arteries, Version 5

why count noise
its pillow small and nothing drawn open

curls
between the fabric on sweet mornings

remember the look of God



                     how unrelenting our flushing
                                        scattered-in boys
the quiet break of wonder


and I suppose I thought we were the night
             wanting to live against the scream


of rules we spun towards space









____________________
Author’s Note:

The Usual Arteries is a small, experimental folding object which contains poetry interacting with collaged images. This found poem was built by Erin Dorney with words touching the right hand margins on the right side pages of a withdrawn library copy of Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, copyright 1979.

Published by Laura Rowley of Illuminated Press with design and production assistance from interns Jay Barrett and Scout Frost. Inkjet printed pages with letterpress & screen printed slipcase on paper from French Paper Company.


Erin Dorney (she/her) is a poet and artist based in Western New York. She is the author of Yes I Am Human I Know You Were Wondering (Autofocus Books), The Usual Arteries (Illuminated Press), I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems After Shia LaBeouf (Mason Jar Press), and many zines and artist’s books. Erin’s writing has been published in DIAGRAM, Tolka, HAD, and other literary journals. Her literary artwork and installations have been featured at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Susquehanna Art Museum. She is the co-founder of Fear No Lit.

Catherine Garbinsky (she/they) is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. They received their MFA in Poetry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where they are now a PhD candidate. Catherine’s poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has written two chapbooks: All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press, 2018) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press, 2019), and her work has been featured in Yes Poetry, Coffin Bell Journal, Cream City Review, and elsewhere. 


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Catherine Garbinsky, is from The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney (Illuminated Press 2024).

The Usual Arteries, Version 4

the washings out so warm
and I, looking ever to her, suspended
spun so very well

people were shocked into the marble of same,
to the meal of display

long like our sweet coming

                          a train and the whistle

and meadows enough to put tomorrow
between arms already shining



Did I stay always eyes on her eyes?
                    The smile back unfastened?

red welts bite my heart
    like years we weren’t allowed to keep









____________________
Author’s Note:

The Usual Arteries is a small, experimental folding object which contains poetry interacting with collaged images. This found poem was built by Erin Dorney with words touching the right hand margins on the right side pages of a withdrawn library copy of Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, copyright 1979.

Published by Laura Rowley of Illuminated Press with design and production assistance from interns Jay Barrett and Scout Frost. Inkjet printed pages with letterpress & screen printed slipcase on paper from French Paper Company.


Erin Dorney (she/her) is a poet and artist based in Western New York. She is the author of Yes I Am Human I Know You Were Wondering (Autofocus Books), The Usual Arteries (Illuminated Press), I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems After Shia LaBeouf (Mason Jar Press), and many zines and artist’s books. Erin’s writing has been published in DIAGRAM, Tolka, HAD, and other literary journals. Her literary artwork and installations have been featured at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Susquehanna Art Museum. She is the co-founder of Fear No Lit.

Catherine Garbinsky (she/they) is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. They received their MFA in Poetry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where they are now a PhD candidate. Catherine’s poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has written two chapbooks: All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press, 2018) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press, 2019), and her work has been featured in Yes Poetry, Coffin Bell Journal, Cream City Review, and elsewhere. 


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Catherine Garbinsky, is from The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney (Illuminated Press 2024).

The Usual Arteries, Version 3

I was born in her lap,
snapped something twice

like long breath years after
                              I’m gold—



a dedicated finger



vase our sleepy mouth
clean as the day opposite each smile

this game
the leaves
our dirty years


                                      rules on bare skin









____________________
Author’s Note:

The Usual Arteries is a small, experimental folding object which contains poetry interacting with collaged images. This found poem was built by Erin Dorney with words touching the right hand margins on the right side pages of a withdrawn library copy of Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, copyright 1979.

Published by Laura Rowley of Illuminated Press with design and production assistance from interns Jay Barrett and Scout Frost. Inkjet printed pages with letterpress & screen printed slipcase on paper from French Paper Company.


Erin Dorney (she/her) is a poet and artist based in Western New York. She is the author of Yes I Am Human I Know You Were Wondering (Autofocus Books), The Usual Arteries (Illuminated Press), I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems After Shia LaBeouf (Mason Jar Press), and many zines and artist’s books. Erin’s writing has been published in DIAGRAM, Tolka, HAD, and other literary journals. Her literary artwork and installations have been featured at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Susquehanna Art Museum. She is the co-founder of Fear No Lit.

Catherine Garbinsky (she/they) is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. They received their MFA in Poetry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where they are now a PhD candidate. Catherine’s poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has written two chapbooks: All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press, 2018) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press, 2019), and her work has been featured in Yes Poetry, Coffin Bell Journal, Cream City Review, and elsewhere. 


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Catherine Garbinsky, is from The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney (Illuminated Press 2024).

The Usual Arteries, Version 2

I was body and bed
my waist the wall for reason in the sandbox

and I suppose I thought we were the night
wanting to live against the scream

of rules we spun
toward space









____________________
Author’s Note:

The Usual Arteries is a small, experimental folding object which contains poetry interacting with collaged images. This found poem was built by Erin Dorney with words touching the right hand margins on the right side pages of a withdrawn library copy of Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, copyright 1979.

Published by Laura Rowley of Illuminated Press with design and production assistance from interns Jay Barrett and Scout Frost. Inkjet printed pages with letterpress & screen printed slipcase on paper from French Paper Company.


Erin Dorney (she/her) is a poet and artist based in Western New York. She is the author of Yes I Am Human I Know You Were Wondering (Autofocus Books), The Usual Arteries (Illuminated Press), I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems After Shia LaBeouf (Mason Jar Press), and many zines and artist’s books. Erin’s writing has been published in DIAGRAM, Tolka, HAD, and other literary journals. Her literary artwork and installations have been featured at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Susquehanna Art Museum. She is the co-founder of Fear No Lit.

Catherine Garbinsky (she/they) is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. They received their MFA in Poetry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where they are now a PhD candidate. Catherine’s poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has written two chapbooks: All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press, 2018) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press, 2019), and her work has been featured in Yes Poetry, Coffin Bell Journal, Cream City Review, and elsewhere. 


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Catherine Garbinsky, is from The Usual Arteries by Erin Dorney (Illuminated Press 2024).

The Usual Arteries, Version 1

I kept colour down well once,
was huge with laughter and perfumed-in



the washings out so warm
and I, looking ever to her, suspended
spun so very well

I was body and bed
my waist the wail for reason in the sandbox










____________________
Author’s Note:

The Usual Arteries is a small, experimental folding object which contains poetry interacting with collaged images. This found poem was built by Erin Dorney with words touching the right hand margins on the right side pages of a withdrawn library copy of Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, copyright 1979.

Published by Laura Rowley of Illuminated Press with design and production assistance from interns Jay Barrett and Scout Frost. Inkjet printed pages with letterpress & screen printed slipcase on paper from French Paper Company.


Erin Dorney (she/her) is a poet and artist based in Western New York. She is the author of Yes I Am Human I Know You Were Wondering (Autofocus Books), The Usual Arteries (Illuminated Press), I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems After Shia LaBeouf (Mason Jar Press), and many zines and artist’s books. Erin’s writing has been published in DIAGRAM, Tolka, HAD, and other literary journals. Her literary artwork and installations have been featured at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and Susquehanna Art Museum. She is the co-founder of Fear No Lit.

Catherine Garbinsky (she/they) is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee. They received their MFA in Poetry from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where they are now a PhD candidate. Catherine’s poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has written two chapbooks: All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press, 2018) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press, 2019), and her work has been featured in Yes Poetry, Coffin Bell Journal, Cream City Review, and elsewhere. 


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor EMDASH and Managing Editor Merrick Sloane, is from Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill (Querencia Press 2025).

Field Log: Denver, 10 May

By the tenth of May the Denver trees
have begun to bloom and leaf
and it is green. So green I laugh, elated.
Some things I have seen:
flowers of six shades,
an alien—poppy in bloom, translucent
hairs cover the stalk and pod,
its neighboring flower a violent red,
a swarm of black flies,
bearded irises proud spikes thrust into the air,
a beetle on its back.
Someone (I dislike) has written “fuck earth”
on the pavement and had it been me
it would have said “fuck, Earth”
reverently, the way lovers do.


Erika Gill (they/them) lives on unceded Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land in Denver. Erika is Editor in Chief of Alternative Milk Magazine. Their poetry appears in Rigorous, MORIA, beestung and others. Their debut collection of poetry, Lone Yellow Flower, is available now from Querencia Press.

Photo Credit: Juan Camillo Garza

EMDASH a.k.a Emily Lu Gao (高璐璐) (she/they) is a poet-who-also-writes-fiction, educator, and daughter of Chinese immigrants. She writes to heal, grow, and decolonize. They’ve received support from LAMBDA, McCormack Writing Center, Sundress Publications, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, The Chinese American Museum of LA, Jersey City Arts Council and more. She has learned as much from community organizing and open mics as she did from her Rutgers-Newark MFA in Poetry. They’re published in Poetry Northwest, ANMLY, Alocasia, Underblong and elsewhere. She proudly hosted, produced, and curated The Word Bookstore Open Mic for two years.


Merrick Sloane (they/them) is a neuro-Queer 90’s kid and nonbinary poet, editor, and researcher from Oklahoma. They hold an MFA in creative writing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and are Associate Poetry Editor of Doubleback Review. A 2026 Best of the Net and 2025 AWP Intro Journal Awards winner, Merrick’s poetry appears in citizen trans* {project}, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Fruitslice, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. When they are not writing or editing, Merrick loves to serve as a pillow for their cat, Kitten, while getting lost in new worlds written by other dreamers. Merrick is deeply committed to helping create a world that liberates us all.


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor EMDASH and Managing Editor Merrick Sloane, is from Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill (Querencia Press 2025).

When we are all drowning

When we are all drowning
these tasks will cease to matter
submerged
dissolved into acidic slurry
and I will miss sliding my fingers
along your hair and the clean sky.

When we are all asphyxiated
I will no longer care to look in mirrors
your empty pockets immaterial
I’ll have plucked the final leaf
from the last wilting plant
as it returns to the earth.

She is calling us
ringing a dinner bell, a klaxon
inaudible
if they have their way
our bodies will never stop moving
never to alight gently
one last petal, to rest.


Erika Gill (they/them) lives on unceded Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land in Denver. Erika is Editor in Chief of Alternative Milk Magazine. Their poetry appears in Rigorous, MORIA, beestung and others. Their debut collection of poetry, Lone Yellow Flower, is available now from Querencia Press.

Photo Credit: Juan Camillo Garza

EMDASH a.k.a Emily Lu Gao (高璐璐) (she/they) is a poet-who-also-writes-fiction, educator, and daughter of Chinese immigrants. She writes to heal, grow, and decolonize. They’ve received support from LAMBDA, McCormack Writing Center, Sundress Publications, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, The Chinese American Museum of LA, Jersey City Arts Council and more. She has learned as much from community organizing and open mics as she did from her Rutgers-Newark MFA in Poetry. They’re published in Poetry Northwest, ANMLY, Alocasia, Underblong and elsewhere. She proudly hosted, produced, and curated The Word Bookstore Open Mic for two years.


Merrick Sloane (they/them) is a neuro-Queer 90’s kid and nonbinary poet, editor, and researcher from Oklahoma. They hold an MFA in creative writing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and are Associate Poetry Editor of Doubleback Review. A 2026 Best of the Net and 2025 AWP Intro Journal Awards winner, Merrick’s poetry appears in citizen trans* {project}, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Fruitslice, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. When they are not writing or editing, Merrick loves to serve as a pillow for their cat, Kitten, while getting lost in new worlds written by other dreamers. Merrick is deeply committed to helping create a world that liberates us all.


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor EMDASH and Managing Editor Merrick Sloane, is from Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill (Querencia Press 2025).

The Rats of Notre Dame

Squeaks and scampers
accompany the night music of the cathedral
exhausted from the weekend trample
of thousands of tourist feet

Gray bodies skitter
sleek through the night
and I try not to sigh again and contain
in my chest the outburst forming
like a storm cloud accumulates

He tells me in words accented that allure me
that there are few stray cats in Paris
but points out Jupiter (or maybe Saturn)
and shows me how to tell by the steadiness of light
if we are looking at a star or planet

I always assume they are airplanes, I say
and sip from my bottle of water, not wine
and wish we had spent each night of the past week
wandering together along the Seine



the water a glossy satin ribbon in the dark
beckons me to descend the stone steps
in the quai and surrender my body to
the embrace of an ancient city

the ache of three hours walking on cobbles
didn’t diminish my desire to stay
the petulant sadness of soon-coming departure
dug claws into my chest and pricked my eyes

I looked so hard at the Haussmann architecture
gilded softly in the mellow amber of streetlights
I thought I might crack the stone
and with each inhale I hoped my lungs would retain
the mass of non-oxygen molecules and become heavy,
immovable

He would probably point out that such a thing would be fatal
and I would agree, inclined to be maudlin and absurd
this final midnight in my own placid, unintelligible heaven

Paris loved me back, maybe he would not have
and maybe it is best that I wasn’t impulsive and foolish
and didn’t try to stay



but my pulse warmed my veins
as he kissed me solemnly on each cheek
and then was gone


Erika Gill (they/them) lives on unceded Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land in Denver. Erika is Editor in Chief of Alternative Milk Magazine. Their poetry appears in Rigorous, MORIA, beestung and others. Their debut collection of poetry, Lone Yellow Flower, is available now from Querencia Press.

Photo Credit: Juan Camillo Garza

EMDASH a.k.a Emily Lu Gao (高璐璐) (she/they) is a poet-who-also-writes-fiction, educator, and daughter of Chinese immigrants. She writes to heal, grow, and decolonize. They’ve received support from LAMBDA, McCormack Writing Center, Sundress Publications, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, The Chinese American Museum of LA, Jersey City Arts Council and more. She has learned as much from community organizing and open mics as she did from her Rutgers-Newark MFA in Poetry. They’re published in Poetry Northwest, ANMLY, Alocasia, Underblong and elsewhere. She proudly hosted, produced, and curated The Word Bookstore Open Mic for two years.


Merrick Sloane (they/them) is a neuro-Queer 90’s kid and nonbinary poet, editor, and researcher from Oklahoma. They hold an MFA in creative writing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and are Associate Poetry Editor of Doubleback Review. A 2026 Best of the Net and 2025 AWP Intro Journal Awards winner, Merrick’s poetry appears in citizen trans* {project}, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Fruitslice, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. When they are not writing or editing, Merrick loves to serve as a pillow for their cat, Kitten, while getting lost in new worlds written by other dreamers. Merrick is deeply committed to helping create a world that liberates us all.


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor EMDASH and Managing Editor Merrick Sloane, is from Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill (Querencia Press 2025).

Romantic Notions

Funny, that it is considered romantic to declare
that you would die for love.
Living for love is much harder to do.


Erika Gill (they/them) lives on unceded Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land in Denver. Erika is Editor in Chief of Alternative Milk Magazine. Their poetry appears in Rigorous, MORIA, beestung and others. Their debut collection of poetry, Lone Yellow Flower, is available now from Querencia Press.

Photo Credit: Juan Camillo Garza

EMDASH a.k.a Emily Lu Gao (高璐璐) (she/they) is a poet-who-also-writes-fiction, educator, and daughter of Chinese immigrants. She writes to heal, grow, and decolonize. They’ve received support from LAMBDA, McCormack Writing Center, Sundress Publications, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, The Chinese American Museum of LA, Jersey City Arts Council and more. She has learned as much from community organizing and open mics as she did from her Rutgers-Newark MFA in Poetry. They’re published in Poetry Northwest, ANMLY, Alocasia, Underblong and elsewhere. She proudly hosted, produced, and curated The Word Bookstore Open Mic for two years.


Merrick Sloane (they/them) is a neuro-Queer 90’s kid and nonbinary poet, editor, and researcher from Oklahoma. They hold an MFA in creative writing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and are Associate Poetry Editor of Doubleback Review. A 2026 Best of the Net and 2025 AWP Intro Journal Awards winner, Merrick’s poetry appears in citizen trans* {project}, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Fruitslice, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. When they are not writing or editing, Merrick loves to serve as a pillow for their cat, Kitten, while getting lost in new worlds written by other dreamers. Merrick is deeply committed to helping create a world that liberates us all.


The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill


This feature, chosen by Guest Editor EMDASH and Managing Editor Merrick Sloane, is from Lone Yellow Flower by Erika Gill (Querencia Press 2025).

Mouse Tea

My mother didn’t know how to love me
with enough affection
hugs too strong-armed
infrequent

so I fortified myself maternally
with dime store paperbacks
by women who wrote boldly
and pedantic

the women who wrote characters
not insecurities
magic but no nonsense

who taught me things
crime scene etiquette
(always wear the booties)
that you can make a tea so strong
a mouse might walk on it

that swords can be heavy
how to curse and mean it



that there are men who will chase after
smart and witty and brazen

that you can love so hard it’ll make you hurt
that you can break things
be broken
and keep a straight face through any insult
or wield your anger (and your tongue)
like a weapon.


Erika Gill (they/them) lives on unceded Tséstho’e (Cheyenne), Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, hinono’eino’ biito’owu’ (Arapaho), and Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute) land in Denver. Erika is Editor in Chief of Alternative Milk Magazine. Their poetry appears in Rigorous, MORIA, beestung and others. Their debut collection of poetry, Lone Yellow Flower, is available now from Querencia Press.

Photo Credit: Juan Camillo Garza

EMDASH a.k.a Emily Lu Gao (高璐璐) (she/they) is a poet-who-also-writes-fiction, educator, and daughter of Chinese immigrants. She writes to heal, grow, and decolonize. They’ve received support from LAMBDA, McCormack Writing Center, Sundress Publications, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference, The Chinese American Museum of LA, Jersey City Arts Council and more. She has learned as much from community organizing and open mics as she did from her Rutgers-Newark MFA in Poetry. They’re published in Poetry Northwest, ANMLY, Alocasia, Underblong and elsewhere. She proudly hosted, produced, and curated The Word Bookstore Open Mic for two years.


Merrick Sloane (they/them) is a neuro-Queer 90’s kid and nonbinary poet, editor, and researcher from Oklahoma. They hold an MFA in creative writing from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and are Associate Poetry Editor of Doubleback Review. A 2026 Best of the Net and 2025 AWP Intro Journal Awards winner, Merrick’s poetry appears in citizen trans* {project}, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Fruitslice, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. When they are not writing or editing, Merrick loves to serve as a pillow for their cat, Kitten, while getting lost in new worlds written by other dreamers. Merrick is deeply committed to helping create a world that liberates us all.