Up the Staircase Quarterly

So happy to have you in this issue 🥰

Emma Bolden | Contemporary History The trees spend the last of their coppers. Everyone’s selling their fists and my nose just bleeds and bleeds. In better times we have no idea we’re living in better times. Every blessing settles down in bed next to a curse. Sometimes I look out of my window and think, what’s so great about that? The blinds snap shut. A change in season changes nothing. Neither does my handful of Kleenex, red, red, red. When the first boy broke my heart, I imagined my actual heart, bleached bloodless, unpumping. My Sicilian grandfather offered to send him a black handprint and I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t consider it. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t sometimes think revenge is a synonym for relief. Late November, and all around me the air conditioner still hums out its chill. It’s easy, if you’re not careful, to hear a threat as a comfort, as a song.

hiiii i'm super excited to have a new poem in the latest issue of @upthestaircase.bsky.social. i hope you'll give the issue a visit: www.upthestaircase.org

Re-opening: Up the Staircase Quarterly Up the Staircase Quarterly @upthestaircase.bsky.social (Poetry Art; non-paying) opened to submissions https://duotrope.com/magazine/up-the-staircase-quarterly-2990 #amwriting

Up the Staircase Quarterly @upthestaircase.bsky.social (Poetry Art; non-paying) opened to submissions https://duotrope.com... #amwriting

Chiara Di Lello It sounds like bickering but I realize it’s not: the couple shuffles just ahead of us toward the seafood department one gesturing from captain’s seat behind the cart’s handlebar and one leaning...

Happy Valentine's Day / Captain Cook got cooked day. Good day to reshare this absolutely true love poem featuring smoked fish and climate change.
www.upthestaircase.org/chiara-di-le...
@upthestaircase.bsky.social

Thrilled for my poem “Tiresias on a a Smoke Break” to appear in this issue! www.upthestaircase.org/oliver-brook...

Issue 72 (!) of @upthestaircase.bsky.social is now available...a lovingly curated gem of original poetry and art. Featuring my winter gardening poem (below) alongside an illustration by Ukrainian artist Josephine Florens. Get lost in the pale, poetic rebirth of winter at www.upthestaircase.org

‼️‼️‼️ thank you 🥰

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Featuring my poem "The tomatoes had gone" alongside "Rooster of Peace" by Ukranian artist Josephine Florens. @upthestaircase.bsky.social

Up the Staircase Quarterly a journal of poetry and art

Issue #72 has dropped over at www.upthestaircase.org ❄️

New poetry by Oliver Brooks, Emma Bolden, Kelli Dianne Rule, Alex Turissini, Angelique Zobitz, Meia Geddes, Angie Macri, Nicole Dufalla, Anya Kirshbaum, Aditi Bhattacharjee, Pamela Manche Pearce, and Natalie Zhang.

The art piece "Rathaus Münster 5 Filiz" by Nuala McEvoy that accompanied my poem (I'm not going to do this justice, I'm so sorry) it's a slightly abstract golden palace on a pink ground that slightly reflects it and a pixilated/dotted background

eating taco bell in the middle of a burger king drive thru just to feel something I’m going to dive bars; collecting bathroom stall numbers, starting to not be joking when I tell you I’m going to start calling. I admit I’m bitter, wanting to skip the awkward “will you be my murder” part and go right to the couch, take out, tv flashing 90’s nostalgia. but, the only burrito here in months has been me; blanket wrapped, soggy in the middle. I’ve never been good at living, anxious on my best days, agoraphobic on my worst, but I could be tempted by cheese to unfurl—Sara says she’s never been hung over enough to eat taco bell and I don’t have the heart to tell her it’s drunk food, not hangover food, because in this case I too am unqualified, sober for all the wrong reasons. terrified of what it’d feel like to let the rubber bands under my skin snap. I stick to little rebellions, dipping chicken nuggets in fire sauce. every bad idea another in a series of intrusive thoughts. and this is no different. you see I’m not here for a good time, a long time, for the one that got away, long lost love — hello, no you don’t know me, but for an hour or two on a tuesday night I loved you forever, just thought you ought to know. tonight I’m grateful I’ll never wake up to another’s body, and this too is love— I love the idea of you so much I never want to startle awake to you, open eyed and blue. in every situation let there [still] be breath.

"eating taco bell in the middle of a burger king drive thru just to feel something" in @upthestaircase.bsky.social

James King James King holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and serves as Poetry Editor for Bear Review . A two-time Pushcart nominee, his work has appeared in Moon City...

Came across this wonderful poem in @upthestaircase.bsky.social on my travels today. www.upthestaircase.org/james-king.h...

So honored to have my poem in Issue 71 of Up the Staircase Quarterly!!

A dish of partially smashed cherries.

We love ACCOMPLISHMENT SUNDAY as much as we love this poem❤️ Poetry Editor @ritamookerjee.bsky.social published the gorgeous piece, Self-Portrait as the Pie Crust in Heretic (2024), in @upthestaircase.bsky.social: buff.ly/L4U0jlR

🥰 thank you!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carrie Chappell with Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire.

Carrie Chappell's poem, 'Dans ces beiges très confortables.,' after Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire.

Continuation of Carrie Chappell's poem, 'Dans ces beiges très confortables.,' after Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire.

A page from Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire.

Thank you to Editor @aprilmbratten.bsky.social for selecting my poem - " 'Dans ces beiges très confortables.,' " written after Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire - to appear in Issue 71 of @upthestaircase.bsky.social. I'm honored to share these pages with so many wonderful poets and artists.

So excited to have you in this issue! Beautiful work.

Vikki C. | Childhood Mostly, I wasted it, in refuse sites bright with strangers’ belongings, throwaways and condemned vehicles. They are planning to turn the toxic lake into a freshwater reservoir. Permission granted the summer you left. They will name it Tranquility. Introduce lush colonies of fish to colour in the stenciled dark. Powdered pellets of sedatives skimming the water at dusk, to send those creatures to sleep—even as light radiation peaks. The glow must have been my mother visiting, as promised. She, another site of special scientific interest, treated too late. Each time those harsh rays shone through her like sabers, I innocently sketched them around another circle—to make a new sun. Below, an emerald landscape reaching to meet it, the sprinkler set to a gentle spray. My father walking through the rainbowed spectrum, as if returning. I would wait—longer than I counted—for his steps to draw near, for the key to turn in the lock, and amber to pour through the crack, illuminating the pairs of animal figures, who waited too. The ending was less than he remembers—a rearrangement of night and TV static, the bent August heat on oily kneecapped roads. Some alien waterlilies, like retired ballerinas, larger than a man’s fists, overtaking the sidewalks. Surviving, rootless. Like all other variables, the experts couldn't explain such condition. Water versus concrete. Truth versus playground. The vapour in those polished mason jars, never too tightly sealed.

Grateful to have a new poem 'Childhood' included in Issue 71 of @upthestaircase.bsky.social alongside a wealth of talent!

Huge thank you to EIC @aprilmbratten.bsky.social for selecting my work ❤️
upthestaircase.org/vikki-c.html

(ALT TEXT included)

Check out the full issue at the link in replies.

Issue 71 of Up the Staircase Quarterly is live! Cover art by Lauren Rinaldi.

Thanks so much to all of our contributors! You can read the issue at upthestaircase.org

November 1st 😊

a cartoon drawing of a person standing in a field of flowers ALT: a cartoon drawing of a person standing in a field of flowers

We are open for submissions of poetry and art until September 15th: www.upthestaircase.org/submit.html

Re-opening: Up the Staircase Quarterly Up the Staircase Quarterly @upthestaircase.bsky.social (Poetry Art; non-paying) opened to submissions https://duotrope.com/magazine/up-the-staircase-quarterly-2990 #amwriting

Up the Staircase Quarterly @upthestaircase.bsky.social (Poetry Art; non-paying) opened to submissions https://duotrope.com... #amwriting

Catherine Fletcher Our boy-girl-boy trio huddles together, at a booth with half-full hurricanes. For you, I’ve crawled across our sprawly city to the junction where Sunset bends. I lean on my umbrella, and it pops...

Day 2: “Last Night at Good Luck Bar” by Catherine Fletcher in @upthestaircase.bsky.social. I LOVE the “platonic love” theme of their recent issue! This poem feels so nostalgic and reminds me of nights out with my best friends. www.upthestaircase.org/catherine-fl...

I'm thrilled to have my poem "Last Night at Good Luck Bar" for my friends Jeff/ @jorgill.bsky.social & Tony in this stellar issue. Many thanks to editor April Bratten & the USQ team!

Rebecca Hart Olander Thirty years since Jerica and I earned Monadnock’s rocky summit, popping blueberries into our mouths, sprawled in a dirty pile of newfound friends after a precollege trip. We were close to...

I'm honored to have a poem for my friend Jerica up today in @upthestaircase.bsky.social in their 70th issue "Kindred: Poems on Platonic Love," celebrating friendship & community. Happy this poem found a home in this special issue & in good company. Gratitude, editors, & cheers to all contributors.

We're so happy to have you in this issue 💕

Thank you to the editors for including my poem in this beautiful issue in such kindred company. ♥️ @upthestaircase.bsky.social

We decided to sweeten your Friday with our themed summer issue. Kindred: Poems on Platonic Love is now live!

www.upthestaircase.org

Happy Pride Month! We got y'all a gift. It's Issue 20 & you'll love it. 🌈

www.screendoorreview.com/issue-20/