Zuhanden 8 by Laine Nixon
Open Letter To White Girls Walking Down The Wrong Side Of The Sidewalk by Lauren Michele Jackson
Arrival at my body was not that event marked by the sprouting of hip breast
ass penis thigh nor spurred by the gushygoodgood overmuch ache for
communion with other bodies nor borne of adolescent fantasy which is to say
my sixth grade self did not write this no the discovery of my body was more
form than contour it was a body with room in space in motion this was a
body in air this was a body made for glorious displacement. I do sometimes
think that these girls perhaps want to kiss me and better to kiss the thing than
give it space to inhale and why here my lips are pursed to say I’m sorry but it’s
stuck in stillborn wonder will it slip out? Lean a little closer says the world and
the world makes space we all make space we all make room for you you you
at the redline underpass on michigan ave walking just walking who won’t
acquiesce to this distress to have a body not made for walking with others.
ass penis thigh nor spurred by the gushygoodgood overmuch ache for
communion with other bodies nor borne of adolescent fantasy which is to say
my sixth grade self did not write this no the discovery of my body was more
form than contour it was a body with room in space in motion this was a
body in air this was a body made for glorious displacement. I do sometimes
think that these girls perhaps want to kiss me and better to kiss the thing than
give it space to inhale and why here my lips are pursed to say I’m sorry but it’s
stuck in stillborn wonder will it slip out? Lean a little closer says the world and
the world makes space we all make space we all make room for you you you
at the redline underpass on michigan ave walking just walking who won’t
acquiesce to this distress to have a body not made for walking with others.
Lauren Michele Jackson is a student and writer living in Chicago. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Point, and The Awl, among other places.
Laine Nixon is a painter based in Sarasota. In 2015, Nixon’s work was published in Studio Visit Magazine, and acquired by RBC Wealth Management. She won the 2016 John Ringling Towers Fund fellowship which includes a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. She is working on an upcoming solo exhibition.
