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Aracelis Girmay

Aracelis Girmay is a writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Originally from California, she received her MFA from NYU. Girmay has worked as a writer-in-residence with the Community~Word Project and Teachers & Writers Collaborative, and is currently hard at work with the CARE project in her native Santa Ana. Among her most recent publications is the short story "girl medusa" (I Was There, anthology). She has been a featured poet at The Udi Adoni Project Room, the Bowery Poetry Club, Bar 13, Cornelia Street, and the New Jersey State Prison–Trenton, among others. A former Watson Fellow and a present Cave Canem Fellow, she loves her work as writer and educator—believes this work to be integral to social change. She also loves her loves—Yosef, Banna, and Ariana—who have taught her to move straight-backed in the world, with open eyes. She can be reached at aracelisgirmay@yahoo.com.

Cyclops Mary

2 March 2004
Vol. 4, No. 1
poetry, editors' select

If Cyclops Mary heard it.

If that sentence flew clean into the ear.

If the whole thing traveled pure,

unrustled by the pigeons.

Cyclops Mary Down the Avenue, A Monologue

2 March 2004
Vol. 4, No. 1
poetry

Yeah, I heard it.

Saw the whole thought form

from out the back of his head,

then take shape into one lust-musty sentence.

Teeth

2 March 2004
Vol. 4, No. 1
poetry

Two sisters ride down with us

to Massawa's liberation celebration.

One sister is the color of injera; her teeth are big and stuck-out.

One sister is a cinnamon stick.