Poems by Guest Writer Natalie Chin
Illustrations by Guest Illustrator Camilla Frankl-Slater
Slipstream
no one thing is ever enough for you
you say turning in the waters
as you break surface for another breath
it is very dark tonight and with
your arms you push water away
and then towards you again
water loves you so silently in comparison
and i watch as you make your choice
each time you flip full rounds
kicking the edge of the pool away
and leaving me behind with it
My Answer is Yes (But How?)
in june behind shuttered streets
no one knows where we are
day old sheets soak through
with the heat of sweat and legs
i sit by the alley drains and watch
you pull smoke back into lungs
ribbons that i want to keep watching
as your hands pull me close
what we knit together in the dark
is unlike anything else i have known
i tell you that i am dreaming
of first snow again
glimpses of another life
in a city made only of ourselves
here: i am naming what little we have
i am living in the dream set of forever
September
near morning
crackling with heat
silky light sneaking around
then through to the wet clothes
curling up near your silence the rise-fall
of your chest is a relief that i want
to keep experiencing myself
i feel the warmth of skin only
in the distance the wet markets stir
our fingers reach for each other
as if being near would
make the pain go away
but time stops its stutter and
i am sensing slow flight on your body
*
Natalie Chin grew up in Singapore and currently lives in London. She is the Literary Editor of Galavant Magazine and is an Arts and Sciences student at University College London. Find her here: herbonestructure.com and twitter.com/herbonestrcture
Camilla Frankl-Slater is an artist studying illustration at Camberwell College of Art and is a member of Bunny Collective. Find her here: workbycamilla.tumblr.com and twitter.com/c_amilla
