by Melony Hodge Home. It’s still there. Even after all the other addresses 878, where it all began. I remember When Holiday traditions bled into growing up When love and magic kept us fed Cookouts, […]
Mine
by Robbie Atienza There is something in the walls. I can feel it. Sometimes, I sense that I’m being watched, observed, like a fish in a glass bowl. These last few months, it’s as though […]
Shine LaGuardia
by Jeannine Nixon Jeannine Nixon is a Fine Arts Major at LaGuardia Community College.
Three Poems
by Paris Armstrong Existential Sex The sweat at his brow slides down, then up, following touch Gasps and laughter start and stop haltingly Quiet now, be quiet. Too loud or they might hear Her lips […]
The Cardboard Piano
by David Garate (Within the confines of a shoebox, amongst a vast crowd of paperfish). He is laborious, The one on the cardboard piano. One of many who climb the stairs And waltz on stage. […]
My Best Friend
by Juan Paredes Some days I miss you dearly On bad days you consoled me On good days you celebrated with me When reality gets too much you embrace me No matter where I’m […]
Childhood Fragments
by Favi Olmedo Chaotic mornings. Shoes scattered across the living room floor. Missing hairbrush, untamable bedhead. Blurting things out at random times. At the wrong times. Being carried after a bath, to bed, just because. […]
Ode to a Strange Planet
by Victoria Segarra Rolling hills of skin Comfortable, cushiony ground The strong and capable plains Of my back Blue rivers of veins, Their waters warm and comforting Beyond the peaks and dips Of my abdomen […]
Some Questions for Elias Bailey
What inspired you to write “Inseparable”? My inspiration for Inseparable is the loss of my mother and father so close together just prior to Covid. They stay on my mind constantly, and I’m sure they […]
Inseparable
by Elias Bailey Above you, father, a video montage is displaying the most joyful and carefree moments of your life before we met. Wonderful images of you as a little boy playing with your siblings, […]
Some Questions for Edernis Adames
What inspired you to write “Breaking the Mold”? Breaking the Mold was actually an assignment for English 101. We were asked to write a narrative about the turning points in our academic careers. I chose […]
Breaking the Mold
by Edernis Adames The lopsided desk wobbled as I took a seat. My legs barely fit under it. I moved my arm to reveal the etchings that covered the wooden top of the desk, one […]
Some Questions for Viviana Peña
What inspired you to write “The Birth”? I was inspired to write “The Birth” by an experience I had during labor. I realized while writing this story how deep the wounds were from my experience, […]
The Birth
by Viviana Peña It was time for Francesca to push, she felt exhausted from being poked and prodded. The repeated questions from the nurse about how she was feeling made her anxious. She wished she […]
Some Questions for Arben Alovic
What inspired you to “Cherry Blossoms”? Call me a sucker for a love poem? In all reality, I’m really not a love poet. I can’t say I ever have been, but I wanted to capture […]
Some Questions for Alicia Evans
What inspired you to write “Love in Quarantine”? During COVID I thought about what happens now to the couples that were living as roommates. Now they are forced to spend time together, to speak to […]
Some Questions for Angelica I. Ayala
What inspired you to write “Sunlight”? My mental health journey inspired me to create this poem. With my partner by my side, it has definitely given me the motivation to step into sunlight instead of […]
Some Questions for Clare Kenefick
What inspired you to write “Polarized Politics”? I have been writing more poems again in the past year or so and I am the only one who usually gets to see them. One of my […]
Some Questions for Kiara Byrd
What inspired you to write “Blank”? I wrote this piece for my ENG271 course this semester, my Professor Carrie Conners thought that the poetry my class wrote at that point was really good and that […]
Some Questions for Marlin Muñoz
What inspired you to write “Song for My Beloved”? What inspired me to write the poem that was submitted in The Lit in Spring 2022 was the original poem of Diane Di Prima “Song for […]
Some Questions for Michael Ferrin
What inspired you to write “Paradise”? I had spent some time thinking about my relationship with my father, I guess more specifically, the relationship my siblings and I have with my father. It is a […]
Some Questions for Özgür Peksen-Saccone
What inspired you to write “One Suitcase, Two Languages”? For ENG 101 I was a student of Prof. Tara Coleman. She introduced me to the writer Amy Tan. We read one of her stories, “Mother […]
Some Questions for Samantha Morgan
What inspired you to write “My First Funeral is Yours”? It was maybe my second or third Creative Writing class, which I’m currently taking at LaGuardia, when my professor asked that we “Write what we […]
Editors’ Introduction
As we worked on the Spring 2022 Issue for The Lit, the world outside kept inundating us. At the start of the semester, we were still living under COVID, and at some point we had […]
2022 Masthead Viviana Peña Viviana served as co-editor in chief for The Lit. She is a single mother of two born and raised in New York City. She’s a full-time Creative Writing […]
