"Half" by Julia Forrest
Three Ways of Waking by Alina Stefanescu
1.
I wake up on the Liar's Bridge in Sibiu.
My skirt is on fire but my
legs are freezing.
2.
I wake up to find my husband
having an affair in a labyrinth
that becomes a restaurant. The
first clue is his decision to sit
at a separate table. Per the waiter's
suggestion. I have no choice
but to seek him in the absence
of maze with multiple routes out.
In a labyrinth with only one pathway
to the endpoint. He screws a fake
brunette on the formica counter.
3.
I wake up in the Forest Without Fossils,
in the land without memory of life
erased. There is a snake who knows
his way, carving a soft slither mark
in wet soil, using his body as a blade.
There is a path that is neither bitch
nor cherub. I press my heart to
the earth and crawl forward.
I wake up on the Liar's Bridge in Sibiu.
My skirt is on fire but my
legs are freezing.
2.
I wake up to find my husband
having an affair in a labyrinth
that becomes a restaurant. The
first clue is his decision to sit
at a separate table. Per the waiter's
suggestion. I have no choice
but to seek him in the absence
of maze with multiple routes out.
In a labyrinth with only one pathway
to the endpoint. He screws a fake
brunette on the formica counter.
3.
I wake up in the Forest Without Fossils,
in the land without memory of life
erased. There is a snake who knows
his way, carving a soft slither mark
in wet soil, using his body as a blade.
There is a path that is neither bitch
nor cherub. I press my heart to
the earth and crawl forward.
Alina Stefanescu was born in Romania and lives in Alabama. Her poems and prose are recent or forthcoming in DIAGRAM, New South, Mantis, VOLT, Cloudbank, Prairie Schooner, NELLE, and others. She serves as Poetry Editor of Pidgeonholes and President of the Alabama State Poetry Society. Her first poetry chapbook, 'Objects in Vases' (Anchor & Plume Press, 2016) won the ASPS Poetry Book of the Year Award. Her first poetry collection, 'Stories to Read Aloud to Your Fetus' (Finishing Line Press, 2017) included Pushcart-nominated poems. Her debut fiction collection, 'Every Mask I Tried On', won the Brighthorse Books Prize and was published in May 2018. More online at www.alinastefanescuwriter.com or @aliner.
Julia Forrest is a Brooklyn based artist. She works strictly in film and prints in a darkroom she built within her apartment. Her own art has always been her top priority in life and in this digital world, she will continue to work with old processing. Anything can simply be done in photoshop, she prefers to take the camera, a tool of showing reality, and experiment with what she can do in front of the lens. Julia is currently working as a teaching artist at the Brooklyn Museum, Medgar Evers College, USDAN Art Center and Lehigh University. As an instructor, she thinks it is important to understand that a person can constantly stretch and push the boundaries of their ideas with whatever medium of art they choose. Her goal is for her audience to not only enjoy learning about photography, but to see the world in an entirely new way and continue to develop a future interest in the arts. You can find her at her WEBSITE and on instagram: @Juliajuliaajuliaa
