with SCISSION
an artwork by DEBORA CHEYENNE CRUCHON
Zealots scissor a colossal fire as phoenix specters
yoked by notions of grandeur, Molotovs bleeding
xanthin red, rage with impotence. Pathological
whiteness sparks delirious bastions to declare
victory over settler rites as scores of children remain
unclaimed, snatched by ICE from their parents’ arms
then caged at the border despite pleas for asylum.
Seized or trafficked while the powers that be
regale in tomfoolery––how is this business as usual?
Quarantined pods haven’t made us any wiser; the
pilfering never ends. Whether of body, mind, soul,
or nature––we take more than we give. Even as
numbers of deaths rise from the global pandemic,
mask-wearing, for some, invades personal freedom.
Law and order only aim to protect brick and mortar;
keep the peace silences righteous dissent. So-called
justice afforded to the rich and famous, but what
is the actual price––an eye for an eye? Dog eat dog?
Heaven forbid we treat others as equals. Here today
gone tomorrow, we hoard toilet paper like forever
friends. Will we ever get our priorities straight? The
Earth won’t accommodate our shit for much longer.
Dear humans, can we please stop the killing? Instead
covet impermanence like movements of a river:
bending, converging into pools and eddies so deep
anything is possible, even the chance to flourish.
SU HWANG writer
Su Hwang is a poet, activist, and the author of Bodega with Milkweed Editions which received the 2020 Minnesota Book Award in poetry. Born in Seoul, Korea, she was raised in New York then called the Bay Area home before transplanting to the Midwest. A recipient of the inaugural Jerome Hill Fellowship in Literature, she teaches creative writing with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and is the cofounder, with poet Sun Yung Shin, of Poetry Asylum. Su currently lives in Minneapolis.
DEBORA CHEYENNE CRUCHON artist
Debora Cheyenne Cruchon is a French multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. After getting a degree in animation from Gobelins, she directed a short film, Couchée, for French television. She currently works as an art director for Buck, while pursuing her own projects in sculpture, painting, and animation. Her work has been exhibited in Leiminspace gallery in Los Angeles and Barney Savage in New York, amongst others. Building a bridge between virtual and physical realities, she explores what lies at the crossroads of opposite worlds, states, and energies, expanding her fascination for what is ever elusive and constantly changing.
Debora was previously featured in Stillpoint Magazine Issue 001: FANTASY here and here, and Issue 005: DAZE here.
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