Gnashing Teeth Publishing

| words that get in your teeth

star jelly – dana lyn

Dana Lyn Author Photo

star jelly

my gender is astral jelly;

the nascent remains of a celestial body

crash landed on earth, discovered and marveled at.

 

stella terrae in Latin, imbued

with healing magic from the Milky Way.

my mythos reaches each continent and every age.

 

my gender is star rot;

slime hunted for by witches, amidst the brambles,

hanging off the thorns, translucent, elusive.

 

pwdre ser in Welsh, useful but pungent,

my wafting scent, that confuses some,

draws those who matter near.

 

my gender is moon decay;

found on the bottom of a boot once worn

by Neil Armstrong, shapeless, impalpable,

 

caca de luna, a slime mold in Veracruz,

so other-worldly that it

demands to be worshipped.

 

my gender is the vomited remains of digested amphibians,

fungus on decaying wood,

spherical colonies of bacteria, bloated after a rainfall,

 

a dissolving flying saucer claimed the Philadelphia Inquirer,

but no one, not journalists, not scientists, not wizards, nor my family,

understands what it means to be star jelly.

Bio -Dane Lyn is a nuerodivergent, genderqueer, educator, poet, and glitter enthusiast with an MFA from Lindenwood University. Find them in L.A. with their partner, constructing blanket forts, caring for their menagerie of teens, snakes, lizards, dogs, rabbits, and cats, and ridding their shoes of beach sand. Dane’s work can be seen in Quillkeepers, Gutslut, and Imposter. @punkhippypoet is where you will find them on Instagram and Twitter. Links to published writing found at DaneLyn.net

 

Goodnight, Taj Mahal by Andre Peltier

Deep below earth, clay and sand, deep below roots and aquifers, it lies in wait. Like that silent coyote stalking her white-tailed deer through the brush, it waits patiently and

contain by Megan Cartwright

verb past tense: contained; past participle: contained 1. have or hold (someone or something) within. Similar: hold carry To have and to hold in our own microcosm, constructed of hope.

Listening to Words by Mona Mehas

Listening to words out of touch cross lily pads, one to the next my rules, a tiny picture frame debt of honor, repay the gift. Headlights illuminate the path listening

Blooming by Elizabeth Gade

Some days are easy and some days are exhausting the days you have to dig through the muck inside take more hits than a heavyweight prize fighter cling to life

Pomegranate Rose by Laura Peña

I want to feed this delicacy To my concubine A tiny spoonful at a time I want to watch the luscious sorbet Linger on the tip of her tongue Melt

connect

we love hearing from you. tell us everything