The Issue 51 Poetry Round-Up!
Take a moment to read these tasty snippets of breathtaking poetry from our amazing Issue 51 authors! Whether you are searching for inspiration or pure enjoyment, I suggest reading these wrapped in a warm blanket with something hot to drink.
If any or all of these poems spark your intrigue, you can read their full versions in our Issue 51, Summer 2026!
Encyclopedia Eco-insomnia
by Petra Chambers
I recommend you read this book at night
during the new moon or under nimbostratus
cloud. A lunar eclipse will also do. Wait
until every window in your neighbourhood is dark.
It’s heavy. Feel its heft in both your hands
as you ascend the stairs (they creak, creep carefully
— the populace does not want to be awake). Place
your tailbone where the floorboards meet
a load-bearing wall. Now, crook a flashlight
between your shoulder and the soft tissue
of your cheek.
Petra Chambers (she/her) lives in the traditional territory of the PE’ntlatc People and K’ómoks Nation. She writes creative non-fiction, poetry, fiction, and hybrid forms. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart, longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize, and can be found in Best Canadian Poetry 2026 and Best Canadian Stories 2026. petrachambers.com.
Afterlight
by Oladosu Michael Emerald
The sirens stopped months ago.
Now it’s just us & the sound
of whatever the world is becoming.
We light candles, though wax is rare,
because flame is an alphabet
we still know how to read.
Someone sings a lullaby,
the kind sung to children
before bedtime was a luxury.
Oladosu Michael Emerald is a writer, artist, photographer, and actor. He is the author of ‘Every Little Thing That Moves’ and serves as an editor at Uncanny Magazine and Surging Tide. A Science Fiction Poetry Association member, a 3X Best of the Net nominee, and a 3X Pushcart nominee, he is the winner of the Inaugural Sine Qua Non Poetry Prize, the Off the Limit Contest, the SprinNG Poetry Contest, the Garden Party Collective Neurodivergent/Intersectional Poetry Contest, and first runner-up for the Sande Poetry Prize. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Chestnut Review, FIYAH, ONLY POEMS, Asimov, Bournemouth Journal, Temz Review, and elsewhere. Emerald is a pioneer resident of the Muktar Aliyu Art Residency and the Rongo Art Residency, and a fellow of the Ugly Collective. He tweets @garricologist on X and @oladosu_michael_emerald on Instagram.
Altar of the Hearing Aid Discarded at High Tide
by Kath Healing
At dusk I find it half-buried,
battery door open like a mouth
that once translated silence.
The sea has been speaking through it —
a wet electric sermon.
I lift it to my ear: sand learns my frequency,
crabs click in binary, gulls test their names.
I stack shells around it,
offer two spent batteries,
a doorbell chime caught in a wave,
the hum of fluorescent dust.
Kath Healing (they/them) is a queer, disabled, non-binary poet based in Canada. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in PRISM international, Grain, Plenitude, and Contemporary Verse 2, and explores listening, embodiment, and survival through lyric restraint. www.kathhealing.com
To continue reading these poems, pick up a copy of Issue 51, Spring 2026!
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