Art: "Untitled (freeze dance)" by Sasha Cohen

Poetry: "june" by Sara Matson

waking up is poking a cooked spider with a fork

 

fistful of condensation,

i wipe up

watch the dark pools dissipate with breath

 

i don’t know how to balance //

toes up or down

 

i paint my chest blue

ignore strange advances from a baby

or tiny teen god of how often

& deeply i explicate

 

there was no contraction of muscle

no vibrational warning

before a small flood down the front

of the three day old couch

assembled with insomnia on my blazer

after i shattered our brand new glasses

trying to get the baby fed

 

cramcramcramcram new tissue

wet matter into the new comforter

word salad (thoughtless // messy // mayonnaise-y)

playing songs of infant animals eating

to fall asleep feeling warm

 

boatnecked under nail confusion

the shaved head of my mother

whispers like a threat

into the base of my spine

 

time passes differently in polyester

 

inside my heart is hair so thick

it could be fur

always wet + warm

it itches in summer

my chest oozing plasma

before i forget not to scratch

Published January 21th 2025

Sara Matson’s poetry can be found in Impossible Task, The Chicago Reader, Kicking Your Ass, Bone Bouquet, and elsewhere. Sara’s recent chapbook, (Women) In STEM is available from Bottlecap Press and her pop-culture inspired chapbook Special Features: DVD Poems is available from Alien Buddha Press. Sara hosts the seasonal online reading series Words // Friends + can be found on Instagram @skeletorsmom and Bluesky @saramatson.bsky.social. More of Sara’s poetry can be found at https://linktr.ee/saramatson

Sasha Cohen is a mixed media artist living in Connecticut. She received an MFA in Studio Art from CUNY City College and a BFA in Painting and Art Education from Syracuse University. Through a process that combines paint and collage, Sasha builds visual layers to accrue a tactile depth, with each work calling attention to its own materiality. Whether using paint, paper, fabric, or other elements, she works in a visceral language where color, form, and texture are heightened, distorted, or exaggerated in order to transform the ordinary into something more theatrical. Sasha has been awarded residencies at Ox-Bow, ACRE, and Anderson Ranch. You can also view her work at sashadcohen.com.