"The Memory of Rain" by Tricia Louvar
"Testosterone" by Alex Everette
Becoming a man seems to be
soft thin chin hair just darker than peach fuzz
changing my voice when it gets too high and
again when my throat’s too sore,
picking acne scabs into scars, bleeding
on my fingers, and a nightly routine
of gel on hand on thigh. It seems
at this point like quitting the gym when
I most need self defense because I’m afraid
of an elbow that connects too hard with my ribs
changing gym clothes with men born men
and the parking lot after class, after dark
after a hundred chances to see through my
facade of manhood, carefully built and gently held.
It seems a lot like carrying the perseverance
into each time the elbow too hard is just a metaphor
and the pain in my chest is a she
or her thrown my way from loose lips, no matter
how many changes my body and I make.
soft thin chin hair just darker than peach fuzz
changing my voice when it gets too high and
again when my throat’s too sore,
picking acne scabs into scars, bleeding
on my fingers, and a nightly routine
of gel on hand on thigh. It seems
at this point like quitting the gym when
I most need self defense because I’m afraid
of an elbow that connects too hard with my ribs
changing gym clothes with men born men
and the parking lot after class, after dark
after a hundred chances to see through my
facade of manhood, carefully built and gently held.
It seems a lot like carrying the perseverance
into each time the elbow too hard is just a metaphor
and the pain in my chest is a she
or her thrown my way from loose lips, no matter
how many changes my body and I make.
Alex Everette is a Boston based writer working on an English degree and editing The Bridge Journal at Bridgewater State University. He splits his free time between literature, hiking, and his pets.
Tricia Louvar lives in the Pacific Northwest and studied journalism, poetry, aesthetics, and documentary photography in college and beyond. She works in publishing as a visual artist and writer. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Brevity, Orion Online, Zyzzyva, and more. tricialouvar.com
Artist Statement: At a Saturday kaffeeklatsch, after splitting a piece of banana bread, I am the one nibbling pieces of its raw sugar left behind on the plate. Such an instantsummarizes my artistic impulses of focusing on the leftovers and the overlooked. I investigate the human condition and its relationship to impermanence with digital and analog tools.
Artist Statement: At a Saturday kaffeeklatsch, after splitting a piece of banana bread, I am the one nibbling pieces of its raw sugar left behind on the plate. Such an instantsummarizes my artistic impulses of focusing on the leftovers and the overlooked. I investigate the human condition and its relationship to impermanence with digital and analog tools.
