Read Now! The Second Issue of ‘Nepantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color’

Author: Christopher Soto

September 9, 2015

Welcome to Nepantla Issue #2

Nepantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color (launched annually with the Lambda Literary) aims to preserve diversity within the queer poetry community. Our inaugural issue reached thousands of readers and this year, in preparing for Issue Two, we have experienced even more growth than anticipated. We added Regional Representatives and Outreach Representatives to our team and (in turn) we received more than three times the amount of submissions as last year. This just reminds us of the need for our journal, the need to celebrate all of the talented QPOC poets out there!

Nepantla Issue #2 features twenty-three poets of various aesthetics, experiences, and relationships to poetry. This issue also features two interviews with QPOC poets and activists which we admire. As an editor, I am proud of our journal’s growth, inventiveness, accountability, and willingness to take risks. When we take risks, we have the opportunity to fail, to learn, to become even stronger. Nepantla Issue #2 is the byproduct of collective resilience, learned knowledge, and adaptation. Hope you enjoy the read!

(click image above to access full length pdf of Nepantla Issue #2)

Natalie Martínez	EKPHRASTIC REMAINS & ENUMERATIONS
Julian Talamantez Brolaski	in the cut
Ife-Chudeni Oputa	Lessons on the Body: How Not to Itch
Luis Lopez-Maldonado	TRANSvisible
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza	I Dream of Horses Eating Cops
Jess X. Chen	Last Words of the Honey Bees
Fatimah Asghar	Orphan
Vanessa Borjon	Michoacan
Hieu Minh Nguyen	Again, What Do I Know About Desire?
Shane Allison	BUSCH GARDENS PHOTO
Franny Choi	Thirst
Nahshon Cook	Imagine
Aziza Barnes	The Clouds Can’t Hold Shit
Marcelo Hernandez Castillo	Drown
Lillian-Yvonne Bertram	If in its advance the plague begins to fiercen
Joshua Aiken	See Blk Boy Run
Francisco Aragón	Unknown Distances
Vickie Vertiz	Agua en Gotas
andriniki mattis	how to live btwn the lines
Samiya Bashir	Ha ha ha niggers are the worst
L.G. Parker	I Didn’t Want To Be Good
Nicole Mitchell	Birthday Girl
Aurel Haize Odogbo	BIRTH-MONGER