Letter From the Editor
When we announced the theme of Sex for our 3rd volume, we were seeking genuine individual interpretations and definitions of the word, or whatever the word sex evoked in people. We wanted you to consider a topic that is infinitely discussed and debated in popular culture, yet always so generalized, and usually viewed through a lens full of prejudices and preconceived notions.
.
Who’s to say what gets us off? Who’s to say that’s the goal? And who’s to say that’s sex or what sex is? We hear about the consequences of sex, but not necessarily the meaning. Is it an act? Is it intimacy? Or is it a feeling? Is it a dying art?
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Lights Off
Bedtime Voice: Two poems by Judyth Hill
Two Poems by Judyth HillSilk CamisoleLove on a hot day-bouquet of weak in the kneesdark night toss and turntwisted sheets wind in the pines,the way sand stays warmlong after dusk, and stillthe waves of that sultry sea wash in and in. Oit’s part tropical,mostly...
Coitus Interruptus: Three poems by Jessie Janeshek / Art by Alison Haag
Three Poems by Jessie Janeshek & Art by Alison HaagAnnual Verification The descent of Louise Brooks matches my mooddupes me into thinking the cat’s legs won’t go out.The pink sting is done forever it’s histrionicsit’s moving historyanother night coming on like...
“Mammoths to Hotel Room” poem by Tiana Hennings / Artwork by Svea Elisha
Poem by Tiana Hennings & Artwork by Svea Elisha Mammoths to Hotel RoomOnly imperfect up close,you’re my best friend for the night.You stepped with shining toes through history -your sensors have seen dawns inwar trenches, processed picturesof housewife wonders in...
Slipping Into Unconsciousness: Two poems by Jaime Speed
Two poems by Jaime SpeedInsmonia (1)I wanted youtall and leanthe tapered architectureof your torsomoulded in clayand turpentineI wanted the dandelion coloured stainbetween your fingertipsto know my mouthto call the taste of you home I wanted you to have an appetitefor...
Stealing Lines by Judyth Hill – fiction
Stealing Lines: post-gender stories of an audio-erotic by Judyth HillKnow is the New Yes: North Beach, SF, 5/07 I’m in bed. Reading. There are so many books in this place. I start them compulsively, leave them on bath-edge, windowsills, arms of armchairs,...
All the Bodies by Elena Chestnykh – solo exhibit
All the Bodies by Elena Chestnykh I focus on issues of gender, body, and the self within my practice. My work is about the experience of women's body and embodiment, whether erotic, abusive, or metaphorical. I approach the body as a site of waste, abuse, and trauma as...
Naked
Sex Education: Two poems by Jennifer Lagier
Two Poems by Jennifer Lagier 1965 Sex EducationIt was the summerhigh school boys bloomed with octopus hands, inescapable tongues, atomic erections. At slumber parties,we compared contraceptive folklore, thirteen-year-old girls with awakening hormonesin shortie...
“Keyhole” poem by Laurinda Lind / Art by Tamika Heard
Poem by Laurinda Lind & Artwork by Tamika HeardKeyholeAs a kid I never believedwhat I heard about bodies,though I knew girls got giddy under the covers, boys were baring down to the skin. What wild sent my cousins off in secret as teens, alsoset them on fire?...
Nothing Is Missing by Keara Saunders – solo exhibit
Nothing is Missing is a series of fabric cyanotypes that she began creating during the first few months of social isolation, focusing on sexual trauma.
“Who’s Pussy Is This?” poem by Tamika Heard / Art by K. Haskell
Poem by Tamika Heard & Art by K. HaskellWho's Pussy Is This?Who's spent hours on, days on,years learning the ins and outsof this pussy? Who was taught to wipe front to back,and felt the consequences of forgetting to? Who feels the egg cycling around, growing,...
Your Hands: Two poems by Uzomah Ugwu
Two Poems by Uzomah UgwuMy Body Spoke His NameYou spoke my name havingMy body echo your intentionsWhen your hands raised the hairs Left on my body up not cut fromThe most recent shaveWanted to hideTo be perfect and smooth for you For you to slide with ease not feel...
“On Sheets of Silk and Paper” poem by Omobolanle Alashe / Art by Marina Carreira
Poem by Omobolanle Alashe & Art by Marina Carreira On Sheets of Silk and Paper I’ve grown to hate you for the validation I cravedin poetry and in sex.To satisfy yourself or mine, I’dpeel back the layers, baring mynaked truth, all bro-ken curves and...
What, pray tell, is a Pussy Fart? by Shawn Aveningo-Sanders – experimental poetry
What, pray tell, is a Pussy Fart? by Shawn Aveningo-SandersShawn Aveningo-Sanders is a globally published, award-winning poet who can’t stand the taste of coconut, eats pistachios daily and loves shoes—especially red ones! She’s notorious for lacing up her corset to...
“Cleft” poem by Monica Raymond / Art by Lydia Crouse
Poem by Monica Raymond & Art by Lydia Crouse Cleft In the absence of a love we become abstract, distract, distrait. Unmade and useless as a bed. I liked the bedclothes in a hovel or nest close dressed around me, rippled as the abode of any...
Who Knows My Sex by Neda Zahraie – experimental poetry
Who Knows My Sex by Neda ZahraieNeda is a writer, musician, painter, filmmaker and actress based in NYC. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, Bar Scraps & Bathroom Confessionals (2010), and Anamnesis. Neda writes and performs original music under the...
As They Pine for Flesh: Two fiction stories by Adi Bracken
Two Stories by Adi Bracken One Last StrayTaste Like YouAdi Bracken is a librarian and writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. She served as the Founding Editor of Quiet Storm, a literary magazine dedicated to writing about illness. Adi’s work has appeared in Flash Fiction...
I Am Spring Green: Two stories by Monica Raymond / Art by Fran Forman
Two Stories by Monica Raymond & Artwork by Fran Forman Green CouchIt’s not my fault—who loved me, copped a feel on me, kissed willingly or unwillingly, passed out, who positioned herself alluringly, mounds of her breasts pressing above Empire bodice. Uncle Bromley...
Ecosensual by O. Pen Be – video art
Ecosensual by O. Pen Be Ecosensual is a video in which I imagine the earth as my lover. It was made in conjunction with sound editor Danielle Imara using found sound for the source. O. Pen Be is a live artist with decades of experience as a movement psychotherapist...
Kink
The Tortuous Dark: Two poems by Kate Falvey
Two poems by Kate FalveyBound and GaggedMass. Inertia. Friction.Movement was never a prayerbut always a shambling lamentation. Air is an impediment, will,its own remorseful friction. Ghosts weigh tons. The handsof a thready child gasping, grappling. It is now...
American Peep Show: poem by Sarah Lilius / Art by Gabrielle Grace
Poetry by Sarah Lilius & Art by Gabrielle Grace American Peep Show Coins drop into a cold slot. Dusty curtain opens too fast to an underage girl with a little purple velvet tight over where it’s not as swollen as nights before, in the back with Mr. Octopus. His...
“Connubial Bliss Is Overstated” poem by Cheryl Lewis / Art by Kate Awalt-Conley
Poem by Cherly Lewis & Artwork by Kate Awalt-Conley Connubial Bliss Is Overstated After gnawing need for sex is less what endears a man to me— 24/7 is a long time laid end to end. I keep old lovers close—no sense losing touch because I’m not inclined to cling like...
“Cucumber” poem by Rachel Burn / Art by Arizona Smith
Poetry by Rachel Burn & Art by Arizona SmithCucumberI just need to say…that vibrators don’t make me cum. I spent £90 in lockdownand toy-related orgasms? None. I find them too plastic, too blatant, too bold,too purposeful, no nuance, not the fun I’ve been...
Indiscreet Moment: Two Poems by Mary Ellen Talley / Art by Pietra Dunmore
Two Poems by Mary Ellen Talley & Art by Pietra DunmoreSex on the BusI asked my seatmate on the bus, “Do you want sex or condolences?” They responded, “Both.” We threw modesty out the window and disrobed, raised the handicapped seats and made love on the floor...
Tabasco Ladies by Tali Rose Krupkin – solo exhibit
Tabasco Ladies by Tali Rose Krupkin I use collage to reactivate found materials – giving them new life in an introspection on women reclaiming their voices to oppose forced societal pressures. The medium, much like my subject-matter, is often accessible and ready for...
Ecstasy
Uncontrollable: Two poems by Victoria Bailey
Two poems by Victoria BaileyVictoria Bailey's writing has been included in a variety of feminist focused academic, creative writing, and non-fiction publications. She is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing.Preview image by K. Haskell, an interdisciplinary...
Dead Applaud: Two poems by Karla Linn Merrifield
Two Poems by Karla Linn Merrifield Kinesthesia My dead husband gets in on our carnal act: how exquisite the hot-hot-heat stirred with wit, his blissful lesson imprinted on my clit. This dead husband of mine left me richly endowed with the visceral certainty— laughter...
Wet Paint by Ida Hay – solo exhibit
Wet Paint by Ida Hay I am tapping into my hereditary witchcraft more and more everyday, and I am slowly but surely understanding the connection between the magick in my art and the creativity in my craft, and how blurred these lines actually are. During a school...
Surrender by Virginia Vasquez – poetry
Surrender by Virginia VasquezVirginia Vasquez is a writer, multidisciplinary artist, educator, and collaborator. She teaches creative writing at the City College of New York, where she received her MFA in Creative Writing. She is currently working on a collection of...
July by Michele Mekel – poetry
July by Michele MekelSummer fruit sundered. Gently thumbed rents reveal flesh— overripe, swollen— like her sex, trickling pungent nectar at the least caress. Michele Mekel is a writer and editor; educator and bioethicist; poetess and creatrix; witch and woman. Her...
She Prays to the Ocean: Two poems by Cynthia Good / Art by Virginia Vasquez
Two poems by Cynthia Good & Art by Virginia Vasquez Off Boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Prés He called me a sweet piece of ass On the elevator. I am allergic To his dog. We exchanged nude Selfies and saliva. He says, I love To wrap my arms around you twice. Though I’m...
“Minnewaska” poem by Charlene Moskal / Art by Larissa Boni
Poem by Charlene Moskal & Art by Larissa Boni Minnewaska Our path leads through woods thick with the spice of damp earth and the swish-sway sound of pine needles underfoot - the expectations palpable. We come ready to pay homage, reveal ourselves as unformed...
(Fuck): Two poems by Pietra Dunmore / Art by Lauren A Bleiwas
Two Poems by Pietra Dunmore & Art by Lauren A BleiwasFuck in (Parenthesis) phone contact name (Fuck) in parenthesis imaginings in the dark triangle of fuzz fingertip to pleasure points thick nub of flesh out of boxer shorts a collection of sensory details...
There You Are by dev11n – song
Volume 3’s selected song! There You Are by dev11n is a slow jam ballad about focusing on the one you love.
Wild Sex by Katie Ellen Fields – solo exhibit
Wild Sex by Katie Ellen FieldsThis series of five visual works offer a meditation on the ideas of masturbation, libido and the eroticism of plants and the wilderness. My relationship with materials is the most important part of my process, and I often begin making by...
You Watch Me: Three poems by jo reyes-boitel
Three poems by jo reyes-boitelwhat could not be fully visible within the weight of this body?hot house flowerThe Contradictive Nature of a Queer Mother Trying to Get Laidjo reyes-boitel is a poet, essayist, and playwright as much as she is a queer mixed-Latina mother....
A Many Splendoured Thing: Two Poems by Jenny Dunbar / Art by Katelynn Tracy
Two Stories by Jenny Dunbar & Art by Katelynn Tracy Cut butterfly in a frame stopped at random whilst at play the flatterer’s tongue who tore her wings crushed a many splendoured thing The Gypsy Boy boy on the August road, in a fey, first light,fickle and smiling...
Blue-Violet Heart: Two Poems by Chelsea Fanning
Two Poems by Chelsea Fanning Gumball Machine Standing red and erect in the drugstore window, still more than half- full of rainbow, I wait for bright quarters, anticipating the click of metal on metal, slow turn and crank before release – another candy-coated piece...
Zucchini Queen: Three poems by Eva Monhaut
Zucchini Queen: Three Poems by Eva Monhaut Les Sexuelles Our first night togetherwe spent below each other's waistswith the glow from the bathroomsprinkling shadows across our bodies,fragments of light exposing the rose gold ofmy breasts against the stone grey of the...
Butts Together by Lita Kurth – fiction
Butts Together by Lita KurthLita Kurth earned her MFA from the Rainier Writers Workshop. Her creative nonfiction, “This is the Way We Wash the Clothes” won the 2014 Diana Woods Memorial Award. She has been nominated for a Best of the Net Award for her work in...
Press.Play.FastForward by Natasha Herring – experimental poetry
Press.Play.FastForward by Natasha Herring Natasha Herring, genre bending writer and healing artist creates soulful to the magical. She is the founding editor and curator of The Lit Guide to the Galaxy. She is currently working on a speculative memoir Raining Sunshine...
Letter from Editor
When we announced the theme of Sex for our 3rd volume, we were seeking genuine individual interpretations and definitions of the word, or whatever the word sex evoked in people. We wanted you to consider a topic that is infinitely discussed and debated in popular culture, yet always so generalized, and usually viewed through a lens full of prejudices and preconceived notions. Who’s to say what gets us off? Who’s to say that’s the goal? And who’s to say that’s sex or what sex is? We hear about the consequences of sex, but not necessarily the meaning. Is it an act? Is it intimacy? Or is it a feeling? Is it a dying art?
In this volume, we’ve chosen pieces that shed light on everything – the discovery of sex, the memory of sex, the metaphors for sex (for better or worse), the hilarious awkwardness of sex, the weirdness of sex, the shyness of sex, the heartbreak of sex, carnal pleasures that keep us up at night, the absence of sex. In the midst of poetry, art, writing, music and more, I’ve learned that sex is a state of mind. It is our only moment of authenticity, and it is a part of lives from beginning to end, like breathing. It’s everything and nothingness, it’s intoxicating and sobering, it’s cultural, it’s real and magical, and it’s worthy of celebration.
So, in the words of Salt-N-Pepa, let’s talk about sex! I present to you a volume full of talented and fearless individuals, whose shared intimacy is a gift, and an exchange with our audience.
I’d like to thank everyone involved in the process of putting this amazing volume together: Alex Graffeo, Hilary Davies, Kim Gittens, Shamecca Harris, Neda Zahraie, KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ, Arizona Smith, K. Haskell, Peter Mead, and all of the contributors. It was a long journey, with the headache and hiccups that 2020 gave us, but we’re ending the year with a bang. I now present, Volume 3: The Sex Issue.
Love,
Amarantha
Editor-in-Chief
ps: Check out my recent interview on the podcast Coffee with BAO about OyeDrum and Volume 3! Video or Audio.