Christopher Soto (aka Loma) is a queer latin@ punk poet and prison abolitionist.  They are currently curating Nepantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color in collaboration with The Lambda Literary Foundation. They have work published in Columbia: A Journal, MiPOesias, Apogee Journal and more. They are an MFA candidate in Poetry at NYU and the 2014-2015 Intern at Poetry Society of America.

Poem by Christopher Soto

content note (CN): mourning loss of a friend

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crush a pearl (its powder)

the night rory died, he moved the chair, his blonde locks fell

& we will never be the same

i moved to the beach, thrusted my hands into the mud

broke the jaw of every clam, hoping to find him

his pearly smile, like a broken necklace, thudded to the ground

scattered across mahogany floor

he kissed open the stitches of my gums & draped my teeth

on a necklace over the shy of his breasts

new lovers plagiarize, say awkward things, and yearn

they ask to see my pretty smile

but who smiles when the sky swallows its stars