Beauty, Past Blood and Shame, in “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous”

“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong (he/him) unearths the life and history of a young gay Vietnamese-American man, Little Dog. Though the novel moves between his grandmother’s and mother’s lives in Vietnam to his life in the U.S., it isn’t only an “immigrant story” or a “gay story.” Rather, it encompasses his queerness, race, class, family, and humanity.

How Sunflower Station Presses On: Celebrating Issue 03 “Rituals & Ceremonies”

In May 1930, sci-fi fans created the first ‘zine’- which Wikipedia describes as “a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images”- to connect communities before the Internet. The zine quickly evolved, transforming with counterculture and punk movements, like the 1980s riot grrl, and finding popularity among queer communities. Even with social media, the zine continues to thrive as a way for people to connect and collaborate both underground and online. Sunflower Station Press is one such zine.

Sage Green Love Song

Give me something to leave behind
A sour candy kiss in the theater
Worse things have made me lose my mind.

parajitos

A poem about the way our institutions and some people fail to protect young trans people and profit off their deaths in different ways, while the people who loved them are left to deal with the actual grief. 

Fragile Dandelions

Photo by Zoë Collins This piece was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 2 print issue “Wanting: A Queer Beauty & Burden.“ I love you.  The first time I said it, my hands shook, my heart beating as fast…

Aliveness

Artwork by Cole Lopez (They/Them) The morning my grandfather died             I slept. An ocean away I dreamt             that an angel leaned to kiss his cheek And I tried to push it away but instead              I screamed  My hands passing through…

a letter to my love

Photo by Zoë Collins (she/her) Accompanied by Seethers’ Careless Whisper – Listen Now i want to meet you in a different universe.i’m not sure if i’m ready to meet you in this one. i’m not sure if i will ever…

text me back!

Graphic by Steph Liu (She/Her) touch me like I’m not a friend. Don’t touch me on the shoulder; or Do, as long as you mean it like “i want you” and not like i told a joke and you’re just…

Resisting Norms, Redefining Identity

Illustrated by Steph Liu (She/Her) categories, categories, categories  boy or girlmale or femalegay or straight the world loves to categorize,put us in a boxabsolve us of who we arediminish our rainbow splattered paintinginto a blank, white canvas. rip out our individuality,…

Ad Altiora Tendo

Graphic by Angela Zheng  The power of a star The light The warmth The weight of worlds collapsing under their own greatness You stir that feeling in me Even space and time bend in awe It felt right from the…