Remus 99 A Rugged Embrace Dark Shapes Raegan Peluso
Remus 100 Under Cover
Remus 101 No Strings Hannah Park You made it clear early on that you wanted no strings. So how the hell did we get so tangled up? Your thumb grazes my thigh through the rips in my jeans in your passenger seat, as you drive through a secluded park. The next day you lock the door behind you and you hold me, our bodies smushed together beneath your favorite, worn-out Penguins blanket. Your breath on my skin is like a cloud of smokewhen you know gett ing too close could be dangerous, but the warmth is oddly comforting. The taste of whiskey and coke lingers on my lips long after you kissed me goodbye and said to get home safe. You said you wanted no strings, but now, we’re two pieces of thread, tangled and intertwined to the point where it can’t be undone. I grew att ached, that’s my fault. I tied myself to you in a knot thinking you wanted me, too. But you cut me off and left my edges frayed. For you, I’m just another one on your list, nothing special. How could you tell me you wanted no strings, then create so many ties between us?
Remus 102 The Realization of Death Amina Mamedova
Remus 103 Gavroche Bart Jansen op de Haar No food to eat, no fi re and heat, to keep away the frost. Nothing here that trickles down but misery and snow. I bare a smile, and all the while, I’m thinking of Gavroche. No place to stay, the rent I pay, I cannot bear the cost. Forgott en by our governments, they will never know: No food to eat, no fi re and heat, to keep away the frost. Live’s been rough, I’ve had enough, fi nally the line’s been crossed, And in my brother’s eyes, I see a fi ghting spirit glow. I bare a smile, and all the while, I’m thinking of Gavroche. My blood is searing, upon hearing, in a voice that’s posh: “It trickles down” IT TRICKLES UP! Tell what have you to show? No food to eat, no fi re and heat, to keep away the frost. With litt le care for our despair the working class got tossed, But who will save the billionaires, when they feel the red winds blow? I bare a smile, and all the while, I’m thinking of Gavroche. I’ll get my gun, and make them run, the government I’ll quash. I load, and aim, and hear the click, the time is moving slow. No food to eat, no fi re and heat, to keep away the frost. I bare a smile, and all the while, I’m thinking of Gavroche. Remus 103
Remus 104 Watercolor Landscape Stamps Marina Matt ei
Remus 105 Window Miranda Braemer
Remus 106 Embrace Elianne Dewulf
Remus 107 Ode to Eazy E Grace Stathatos Compton Young and lively, a boy admires fi ve-thousand-dollar ice around his neck. A ball bouncing on a sun beaten blacktop. Friends breakdance, jiving, conniving. They don’t admit it. They’re pouring poring over ones stronger than them in their cassett e deck, Those that made it out, a revolution through musical uprisin’. Hope pounding from his ash covered heart - smoke from his lips to the sun, THC taking eff ect, A hummingbird - always moving – stuck in one place – he sits with his notebook, revising, revising. Young and deadened: an unsurmised fate: sterile sheets and numbed incisions. Sick and stigmatized. An imagination once fecund is another victim to HIV’s rising rate. The hummingbird’s older now, still moving and afl utt er in his life that’s so glamorized Frozen in fl ight, a past of judgement and bad decisions, his anger turned to hate. But the bird, the boy, softens. Restoring intentions, a look at the run-down clinic – his rebellion galvanized. “I’m not saying this because I’m lookin’ for a soft cushion wherever I’m headin’, I just wanna save their asses before it’s too late.” – Eazy-E on his batt le with AIDS, 1995.
Remus 108 Roman Simplicity Kaya Chamberlain
Remus 109 Villa Sciarra Halina Wolnikowski
Remus 110 Ana col pensiero Ann Louise
Remus 111 Heavenly Fire Olivia Teufel Sparks fl y from the matchbook, O nly a few bounce on my skin At fi rst. I brush them off without a second thought Staring at my singed skin with wonder. Second degree burns cover my body. As doctors try to heal my skin I shriek in pain. Still I think about the gorgeous light That was held within the fl ame. Sore scar tissue lingers All over. New skin growing in Ready to be burnt again As I go back into the light For more.
Remus Volume XIV (Spring 2023) www.literaryimagination.org/
Remus Volume XIV (Spring 2023) www.literaryimagination.org/