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You tell me

Oh baby we just need

To get it on

You tell me

Sex is what makes us human

 

I just need to try it

Again, perhaps,

If it did not work the first time

Again

Yeah, again

Sex is what makes us human

 

I made myself cry

Going into this

Is it not natural?

How can you say you do not want it?

 

There must

Be something

Wrong

With me

I get drunk and feel strong

I scream in rollercoasters

I cry at movies

I devour books whole

When I write I

Feel free

I am free

I

 

But sex

Our enjoyment of it

Is what makes us

Differ

From the animals

The animals

Rutting, mindless animals

 

I do not enjoy it

There must be something

Wrong with me

You say

There must

Be something wrong

With me

 

 

Well you see

I like the feel

Of a book’s spine

In my hands

Still unbroken

I like

The taste of orange

Bursting on my tongue

I like when I

Close my eyes

And see

Your face

I like

Wine on a summer’s day

 

Scott tells me

‘be virtuous’

Will tells me

‘to a nunnery’

Gustave tells me

None of it matters

Do you want to be made love to,

Or do you want to be fucked?

 

Neither, I say

And you scoff at me

I like

Wine on a summer’s day

The love of my life

Does not like rollercoasters

I do not push

I love rollercoasters

The love

Of my

Life

Does not like wine

Does not like alcohol

 

I feel

A freak

Going crying

From a doctor’s office

This Obsession

Everyone has

That I do not share

 

I joke

About it

Even to me

Sex is funny

And I am

Too

Smart-mouthed

To keep it shut

(it is the only smart thing about me)

 

Sex is funny

When it’s a joke

 

I like wine on a summer’s day

I like the taste of orange bursting on my tongue

I like the love of my life, their face, their voice, their hair

I like the crack of a book’s spine broken in my hands

I like when I see your

Face

 

Dear Mary’s creature asked

Is there none in the world like me,

And am I then a monster?

If I could only love

Despite my

‘defect’

If there was only some like me

 

If I could only love

(it is synonymous with sex

Is it not)

I say

To the love of my life

And they hold me

And remind me

It is not

And you can

 

And I do



Nikoline Kaiser is a Danish student with a BA in Comparative Literature, currently located in Aarhus and aspiring to make it big, or at least medium, in Literature. More of her work can be found at https://nikolinekaiser.wordpress.com/.
Current Issue
29 May 2023

We are touched and encouraged to see an overwhelming response from writers from the Sino diaspora as well as BIPOC creators in various parts of the world. And such diverse and daring takes of wuxia and xianxia, from contemporary to the far reaches of space!
By: L Chan
The air was redolent with machine oil; rich and unctuous, and synthesised alcohol, sharper than a knife on the tongue.
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Many eons ago, when the first dawn broke over the newborn mortal world, the children of the Heavenly Realm assembled at the Golden Sky Palace.
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Many trans and marginalised people in our world can do the exact same things that everyone else has done to overcome challenges and find happiness, only for others to come in and do what they want as Ren Woxing did, and probably, when asked why, they would simply say Xiang Wentian: to ask the heavens. And perhaps we the readers, who are told this story from Linghu Chong’s point of view, should do more to question the actions of people before blindly following along to cause harm.
Before the Occupation, righteousness might have meant taking overt stands against the distant invaders of their ancestral homelands through donating money, labour, or expertise to Chinese wartime efforts. Yet during the Occupation, such behaviour would get one killed or suspected of treason; one might find it better to remain discreet and fade into the background, or leave for safer shores. Could one uphold justice and righteousness quietly, subtly, and effectively within such a world of harshness and deprivation?
Issue 22 May 2023
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Issue 27 Mar 2023
Issue 20 Mar 2023
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