March 1, 2021 | Issue no. vi
IG: @rawcommunityarts
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Submissions are read throughout the year. For complete submission guidelines, please visit rawcommunityarts.com. Compilation copyright © RAW Journal of Arts (2021). Content copyright © respective authors, artists, photographers (2021). All artists and authors retain all rights to their own work. Cover image © Kristina_Nicolina Photography (2021). MASTHEAD: Owners: Kris and Jane Editor-in-Chief: Tori Scheetz
Issue Six
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Contents
Blindog
Mary Ann Dimand Nature Does No Closure
Danae Younge the moths are out, so close the window
David Spicer Taking it to the Next Level
Poetry
Sam Rose soft parts
Edward Raso Middle-Age Work / Written While Drunk
Isabel Erkemeij
Rocco Stoppoloni
Photography
Dylan Kaniski
Justin Borkowski
Contributors
Elaine Kinsella
Photo credit: Tori
Nature does no closure. Mostly there are slow dissolves, as cells of flies become both toads and turds, as gamete with ecstatic gamete melds to bubble into seed, to clustering clumps of partnered and proliferating cells of mobile life. As the hungry gnaw the cooling corpse’s flesh— the jackals, the magpies, the anaerobic flora of its own chill gut, the busy insects and the meditative fungus. We are all soil for the coming of fresh networks weaved of living. Forest, prairie, marsh grow from all us sisters, all us brothers, turtles and firefighters, dung beetles and lilies, termite towers and the storied hills of Rome. Who are we to put a period to this exchange, to any part of its grand chain? Certainly no one so empowered. Merely temporary scaffoldings for cells becoming something new.
Poetry by Mary Ann Dimand
Nature Does No Closure
Taking it to the Next Level
Poetry by David Spicer
The glaze and gauze of your mystery is clear at sunrise, and the grackles have stolen everyone’s spirit but yours and mine. The sugar cane’s blades sharpen the morning as I rock to your lullabies in my cherry chair. Gondolas filled with locusts parked at the canal and white lakes beckon us. Do we need a parasol? you ask. No, we’ll visit the colonnaded boulevards in downtown Rio and watch Billy sing Piano Man. You laughed. Oh, you tickle me, Poetry Man, next thing I know you’ll invoke Dante. That was before we leaped over the wind, and I said, Well, I can’t be Dante any more than the Sheriff can handcuff you swinging from a willow. Because you were the Sheriff and carried the key to my lackluster heart.
Poetry by Danae Younge
every morning, i grip the stillness gathered on bolts // and toss it into my mouth like fruit pulp // this year, the human body is caged // for how it yields, deconstructs under another’s breath // a touch, the electricity of kissed skin sparked in summer // i, too, am aware of all the ways in which i am weak // how closed doors keep my toes from freezing // how the attic is where best to store // those tiny blankets, nibbled under paisley wings // a night when gold was confessed on the sill // how it feels when my joints become nails in a peen // and i ask what more will bend? // nesting dolls stew // darkness feeds them dust from milk bottles // inside is something like origami paper // i tell myself these crates are necessary prisons // my boyfriend tells me one of them is not.
the moths are out, so close the window
Turn off all the electronic chatter Open the window Sit quietly in your chair And breathe Having been now returned to your self You may now decide what to manifest in the present moment Now do it And repeat
Poetry by Blindog
Middle-Age Work
When you leave your thicket scratched and haggard and woefully fit, tough as a knot of wood And you summit Mt. Told-You-So to inhale the rarified blue You will find you have become as myopic as a unicorn as clandestine as a shard of footbound glass, you hunger for return This is where middle-age work begins And with mind’s rusty shovel and by elbow’s forgotten struggle you begin and dredge chimerally up Your own forfeited power
Poetry by Edward Raso
You push all limits of the oneonly thing the poets describe my first true possession: that which I try to trowel from your incredible weather. And it hurts hard. And I feel I am failing.
Written While Drunk
for a second today I remembered your soft parts - just for a moment. I remembered what it was like to realise that you felt, that you had a tender spot that could be pushed just lightly to make you wince and there, seeing that pushing, I would withdraw, saying “ah, there it is”, satisfied to know your pale underbelly existed and that it was possible for me to have an effect on it.
soft parts
Poetry by Sam Rose
Photo credit: Kristina Nicolina
Elaine Kinsella Higginson Elaine Kinsella Higginson is a landscape and wildlife photographer living in Rathdrum co Wicklow Ireland. Her passion has always been the outdoors and wildlife. When she started photography, it enabled her to capture all the beauty around her in the landscape and wildlife. She is a mammy to 3 boys. Photography has become a big part of their daily routine in capturing beautiful moments while teaching them about wildlife and the outdoors. https://www.facebook.com/elaine.kinsella.102 https://www.instagram.com/ekinsella_higginson https://elainekinsella.picfair.com/ Mary Ann Dimand Mary Ann Dimand was born in Southern Illinois where Union North met Confederate South, and her work is shaped by kinships and conflicts: economics and theology, farming and feminism and history. Dimand holds an MA in economics from Carleton University, an MPhil from Yale University, and an MDiv from Iliff School of Theology. Some of her previous publication credits include:The History of Game Theory Volume I: From the Beginnings to 1945; The Foundations of Game Theory;andWomen of Value: Feminist Essays on the History of Women in Economics, among others. Her work is published or forthcoming inThe Birds We Piled Loosely, Bitterzoet Magazine, The Borfski Press, The Broken Plate, Chapter House Journal, Euphony Journal, Faultline, FRiGG Magazine, Green Hills Literary Lantern, The Hungry Chimera, Isacoustic, The MacGuffin, Mantis, Misfit Magazine, Penumbra, Plainsongs, Scarlet Leaf Review, Slab,Sweet Tree Review,andTulane Review. Twitter as @maryanndimand Rocco Stoppoloni SunbeamPhoto, also known as Rocco Stoppoloni, is an italian photographer based in Jesi. He likes to capture everything that arouses emotions and that could be the start of a new story. His main interest is street photography and all the things around it such as hearing people's stories and backgrounds. Instagram: @sunbeamphoto David Spicer David Spicer has published poems in The American Poetry Review, CircleStreet, Gargoyle, Moria, Oyster River Pages, Ploughshares, Remington Review, Santa Clara Review, The Sheepshead Review, Steam Ticket, Synaeresis, Third Wednesday,and elsewhere. Nominated for a Best of the Net three times and a Pushcart twice, he is author of six chapbooks, the latest being Tribe of Two ( Seven CirclePress). His latest full-length collections, American Maniac (Hekate Publishing) and Confessional (Cyberwit.net) are now available. He lives in Memphis. Dylan Kaniski Hi it’s nice to meet you. My name is Dylan Kaniski. I’m a landscape and astro photographer based in Alberta. My photography journey started well over 2 years ago in my home province of Ontario. Since moving to Alberta, I’ve had many incredible experiences and photo opportunities such as the Aurora Borealis, the Milky Way, and the hundreds of beautiful landscapes that the Canadian Rockies have to offer. I wish to share my experiences and the beauty of the Canadian Rockies through my work. I have had the chance of being featured in numerous online publications Instagram: @dylankaniskiphoto Facebook: DylanKaniskiPhotography Isabel Erkemeij Love is the guideline through the life of Isabel Erkemeij of Soulmates Images, based in The Netherlands. For her, that means love for her family, for the ocean, for music, for all those precious moments that make life such a wonderful journey. Times you’d like to cherish forever. This is why she is specialized in family photography. She shares all the intimate moments with her clients, from the birth of a baby up to the farewell of a loved one. Isabel’s biggest passion within the families are kids and pets. To bring those two together she created her series ‘Little Soulmates’. Please find here a few pictures of this series. Children as well as animals aren’t the most easy creatures in front of the camera, but when everything falls into place after a careful preparation, magic reveals itself in front of her camera. Find Isabel’s work here: Website: www.soulmates-images.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/soulmates.images Instagram: www.instagram.com/soulmatesimages Her private project in cat photography can be found on Instagram @minho_mazing. Het tomcat Minho is a mod on raw_cats. Danae Younge Danae Younge is a 19-year-old, biracial, internationally published writer currently pursuing a BA in creative writing at Occidental College. Her work is published/forthcoming in Pulp Poets Press, Susquehanna Review, Nonconformist Magazine, Vita Brevis Magazine, Palette Point, The Red Skies Anthology, and others. She was a national winner selected by The Live Poets Society of New Jersey and was awarded third place in the It’s All Write international competition. Website: www.danaeyounge.com Instagram: @danae_celeste_ Justin Borkowski Justin Borkowski is a designer and photographer from Washington, Pennsylvania. His grandmother Christina Bruckner heavily influenced his love of photography by always capturing the little moments of his younger years. Photography grew increasingly important to him during his time as graphic design student. The personal need for originality forced him to create his own imagery rather than use stock photography. As time went on he grew to love photography and image manipulation as the primary way to express his creativity to the world. The love of adventure with his wife Andrea and the vast uniqueness of planet Earth influence his photography style. View his work at http://www.justinborkowskiphotography.com Blindog Blindog is an aged phsyconaut who haunts the shadow lands just beyond the fringe. Who returns for brief moments to excrete poetry and paintings, and to take in a 360 degree view of the word through the atmospheric icing. To see the writing, hidden on every wall, and everything is a wall. Blindog is an alter ego for another actor, illusive, perhapse darker still. Blindog I am. Instagram: @theapocalypseofblindog Edward Raso Edward Raso is a writer of fiction and verse and survivor of the music industry. His work has been published in The Mystic Blue Review, Causeway Lit, eFiction Magazine, The Naked Feather Literary Journal, and New Flesh. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with his family. He can be found online at www.edraso.com or on Instagram as @ed_raso Sam Rose Sam Rose is a writer and editor from Northamptonshire, England. She is the editor of Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine and The Creative Truth. Her work has appeared in Scarlet Leaf Review, Poetry Pacific, Haiku Journal, In Between Hangovers, and others. Sam is a cancer survivor and primarily uses her experiences with this to write poetry and memoir. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to rock music and eating too much chocolate. Website: https://www.writersam.co.uk/ Twitter: @writersamr Chef Jane Chef Jane worked as a private chef for over 25 years. She specialized in restricted diets, including GFCF. She was very involved with the autistic community in Southwest Florida and was, for years, in the resources list for Autism Speaks. She still volunteers in creating recipes for people with food allergies. Kristina Nicolina Photography Kristina went to Penn State University with no clear idea for a major. A close friend noticed her penchant and love for helping children and suggested a career in education. At first, it was a thrilling career, shaping little minds into future learners and leaders, but soon that became too much like "a job.” After taking a much-needed break, Kristina rediscovered a passion she has held since her teenage years. She once again picked up a camera and spent countless hours capturing and editing thousands of images in order to hone her craft. She was rewarded for her hard work with a solo photography exhibit in her home town. Her exhibit sparked a flame inside her that still burns to this day. The burning for the perfect shot. The striving for the perfect composition. Kristina believes that she has yet to take her best image, and it is this desire that fuels her ambition for perfection in every frame she shoots. www.facebook.com/kristinanicolina Tori Tori is a poet, photographer, potter, and editor. Tori discovered her love of poetry by accident. She had no idea that poetry would soon become her lifesaver. Her means of communication, of understanding. At first, that was all poetry really was for Tori. It wasn’t until college that she really started to develop her love and skill for the written word. After taking many poetry workshops with a professor who would soon become her mentor, she realized that poetry wasn’t just a passion, it was what she was meant to do. Tori is also a potter who loves to make vases, mugs, bowls, teapots, etc. on the potters wheel. She enjoys playing with various glazes and firing temperatures and finds relief in creating something out of nothing. You can find her on Instagram: @poeticallycoping, @tsphotography95, @tori.s.designs