Alina Stephanescu

Issue One

Unpsalm

A needle in a Transylvanian haystack           is ancient pretext, fashioned by lovers

who crawl inside a world                             they invent against others

Mom called me from the porch                   called from a night swarmed with hips

lips with hot breath of honeysuckle             I swear only the first inch of love is sweet

Goodness comes to those who weight         the heat of the moment

against the halo                                            I find in a photo

the light’s hunger                                         cradling her head.

About Alina Stephanescu
Alina Stefanescu was born in Romania and lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her partner and several intense mammals. Recent books include a creative nonfiction chapbook, Ribald (Bull City Press Inch Series, Nov. 2020). Her poetry collection, dor, won the Wandering Aengus Press Prize and is forthcoming in July 2021.