Latched onto my mother’s chafed nipple, I tasted her grief, smelled her nightmares. Owl-eyed child, I saw her ghosts, wept with her for nameless Jews in Vilnius, in Kyiv— marched into the forest at gunpoint, forced to dig pits wide enough, deep enough to swallow all their corpses. I heard the shots, felt the mud-clods […]
Johanna DeMay
Johanna DeMay grew up in Mexico City, the expatriate child of American parents fleeing the 1950’s Red Scare. Now retired, she writes and volunteers with her local immigrant community in New Mexico. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and three anthologies. She has published two collections, Waypoints, in 2022 with Finishing Line Press, and All Diaspora’s Children, with Kelsay Books in 2025.
Starting from Scratch
Once driven by need, now I go thrifting for sport. In Women’s Clothing I sort through pre-owned blouses, handbags, shoes; survey cook-pots, toasters, bins of kitchen utensils in Housewares. The woman beside me fingers wooden spoons, mismatched cutlery, a wire whisk; lifts a mixing bowl, sets it down, hefts chunky […]
20 Pages, 100 Questions
APPLICATION for NATURALIZATION In Cuidad Juarez pretty girls are prey. Twenty-five years ago Alma fled north. Volunteer tutor, I help her fill in the blanks. Have you ever been a habitual drunkard? ______ Have you ever committed a crime, served […]