What happened to the Chinaberry Trees by Clarissa Kendall
we used to lay beneath each Sunday, hungry, hands like mouths on our answers, like tarnish on silver: didn’t we know the roots would remain—rely on the shade— permanence and god and love? Gentle wind, didn’t we know invincible? And what do we know now? Her father owned guns. My father was one. […]
SkinWalker by Max Torti
in the back of my Mazda Minivan, steaming like, Hot Worms wriggling up, drowning like, Indiana Jones in some pit, slowly gurgling out the last slips of air. my lungs can heave, however, cleaved in two they will operate independently, and hot worms will fill up both spaces, little balloons of flesh, ready to […]
Interview with Mahari Chabwera
Mahari Chabwera is a recent BFA graduate from Painting and Printmaking at VCUArts, whose painting, Grace of Yemeyah, won Poictesme’s 2017 Editor’s Choice Award for art. I visited Mahari’s studio to talk about her work, influences, and life after graduating. In her workspace, large, unstretched pieces of canvas cover the walls. In-progress figurative paintings built […]
Little Journey into the Grim
Poictesme’s Editor, Lauren Chartuk, recently bought an unassuming book that had a spooky surprise in store, when she uncovered an inserted photo. One idyllic Saturday afternoon, I took a walk around a Richmond neighborhood and I ducked into Black Swan Books, a rare book dealer – these kinds of shops prefer “dealer” over seller. I […]
Happy Birthday by Marlon Mckay
“Are you sure you want to do this child? Once we start there is no turning back, you’ll be bound forever.” An elderly woman asked the young boy. The two stood alone in the middle of an eerily silent forest, in front of an altar. The dense set of trees that surrounded them a wall […]