- #DearNative Youth Poetry Contest
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- Issue 1
- Letter from the Editors
- Shauna Osborn – Poetry
- Lyla June Johnston – Spoken word
- Tacey M. Atsitty – Poetry
- Valentina Cano – Poetry
- Nila Northsun – Poetry
- Yasmeen Najmi – Poetry
- Juanita E. Mantz – Creative Nonfiction
- Tria Andrews – Poetry
- Justine Kao – Creative Nonfiction
- Interview with Joy Harjo
- Marianne A. Broyles – Poetry
- Julie Lythcott-Haims – Poetry
- Layli Long Soldier – Poetry
- Erika Wurth – Poetry
- Jennifer Givhan – Fiction
- Alicia Lawrence – Poetry
- Lesley Belleau – Essay and Poetry
- Leanne Simpson – Poetry
- LaEsha Sanders – Fiction
- Kaylanah Shendo – Featured Youth Poet
- Linda Boyden – Poetry
- Venaya Yazzie – Poetry
- Acknowledgments
- V-Day Issue
- Letter from the Editors
- Hank Richardson – Artist
- Lauren Chief Elk – Save Wiyabi, Co-Founder
- Takeo Rivera – Spokenword
- Natalia Duong – Dance
- Hakim Bellamy – Poetry
- Jessica Helen Lopez – Poetry/Spoken Word
- Ricky Triana – Poetry
- Teresa Blankmeyer-Burke – Poetry
- Alejandro Jimenez – Spoken Word
- Natalie Scenters-Zapico – Poetry
- Cuauhtémoc Peranda – Dance
- Lisa Gill – Creative Nonfiction
- Carlos Contreras – Spoken Word
- Michelle Brooks – Poetry
- Richard Vargas – Poetry
- Michelle Otero – Poetry
- Reed Bobroff – Poetry
- Erika L. Sánchez, NBC Latino – Article
- Molina Speaks – Music and Spoken Word
- Margaret Randall – Poetry and Prose
- Ara Cruz – Spoken Word
- Tanaya Winder – Poetry and Spoken Word
- Casandra Lopez – Fiction
- Scott Hernandez – Poetry
- Aaron Yazzie – Photo Essay
- Poetic Theater Productions’
- Issue 2
- Letter from the Editors
- Lisa Marie Rollins – Poetry
- Mari Beltran – Poetry
- Cristina Correa – Poetry
- Safia Elhillo – Poetry
- Nakita Nokwanda – Poetry
- Tiffany Midge – Poetry
- Annam Manthiram – Creative Nonfiction
- Interview with Annam Manthiram
- Dysfunction – Book Review
- Michaela Pino – Youth Featured Poet
- Reed Bobroff – Poetry
- Shireen Hamza – Poetry and Spoken Word
- Aaron Yazzie – Photo Essay
- Kimberly Williams – Poetry
- Felicia Chavez – Creative Nonfiction
- Patricia Killelea – Poetry
- April Gibson – Creative Nonfiction
- Natalie Scenters-Zapico – Poetry
- Interview with Scenters-Zapico
- Alejandro Jimenez – Spoken Word
- Jessica Helen Lopez – Poetry
- Cynthia Sylvester – Fiction
- JiaJing Liu – Poetry
- Hank Richardson – Artwork
- Karen An-hwei-Lee – Poetry
- Kateri Menominee – Poetry
- Lisa Gray – Fiction
- Hana Riaz – Fiction
- Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time: Indigenous Thoughts Concerning the Universe, dedicated to Vine Deloria Jr – Book Review
- Jennifer Elise Foerster – Poetry
- Acknowledgements
- Queer Issue
- Letter From the Editor—Queer Issue
- Sheri Wright – Photography
- Elsa Valmidiano – Creative Nonfiction
- Itoro Udofia – Music and Spoken Word
- Catherine Rose Torres-Fiction
- Cynthia Sylvester-Fiction
- Sofia Rose Smith – Poetry
- Anna Puthuran-Poetry
- Tommy Pico- Poetry
- Mónica Teresa Ortiz – Fiction
- Carrie Ayagaduk Ojanen-Poetry
- Randi Beck Ocena – Creative Nonfiction
- Cherrie Moraga – Poetry
- Sarah Maria Medina-Poetry
- Dwayne Martine – Fiction
- Sasha LaPointe-Poetry
- Nia King Interview by Samantha Tetangco Ocena
- Nia King-Interview with Ryka Aoki
- Maisha Z. Johnson-Poetry
- Alexis Gumbs-Fiction
- Aziza Zenobia– Poetry
- t’ai freedom ford – Poetry
- Hannabah Blue-Spoken Word
- Crystal Azul-Poetry
- Byron Aspaas – Poetry
- Cathy Arellano – Poetry
- Celeste Adame – Poetry
- Celeste Chan and JDX – Poetry
- Issue 3
- Letter from the Editors
- Ann-erika White Bird – poetry
- Rachelle Cruz – Poetry
- Lauren Espinoza – Poetry
- Min Kang — Poetry
- Jasmin Garcia — Digital Photographic Manipulation
- Danielle Shontae Smith — Poetry
- Caridad Moro — Poetry
- Supriya Misra – Poetry
- Vickie Vértiz – Poetry
- Nandini Dhar – Poetry
- Molly McGlennen – Poetry
- Cherríe Moraga — Poetry
- Tanaya Winder – Poetry
- Adela Najarro – Poetry
- ire’ne lara silva – Poetry
- Caroline Mar – Poetry
- Alexandra Delcourt – Poetry
- Jamie Figueroa — Fiction
- Ramona Beltrán – Poetry
- Andrea Serrano — Poetry
- Natanya Pulley – Fiction
- Casandra Lopez – Poetry
- Isabel S. Quintero – Poetry
- Neebinnaukzhik Southall — Body Painting/Photography
- Courtney Hill – Creative Nonfiction
- Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela — Poetry and Fiction
- Shauna Osborn – Poetry
- Idrissa Simmonds — Poetry
- Jessica Helen Lopez – Poetry
- Jo Reyes-Boitel – Poetry
- Carrie Ojanen – Poetry
- Acknowledgments
- Issue 4
- Letter From The Editors
- Barbara Jane Reyes – Poetry
- Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes – Poetry
- Marlon Footracer – Creative Non-Fiction
- Michael Utzler – Poetry
- Nakita Nokwanda – Poetry
- Michael Dauro – Poetry
- Clarissa Mendiola – Poetry
- Sophia Terazawa – Performance Essay
- Arielle Taitano Lowe – Dance
- Samantha I. McQuibban – Poetry
- Daniel White – Poetry
- Latasha Diggs – Poetry
- Che Christ Cruz – Poetry
- Julian Romero – Poetry
- Leow Hui Min Annabeth – Poetry
- Nikay Paredes – Poetry
- Robert Wilson – Poetry
- Tria Andrews – A Reflection
- Sonny Nguyen
- Isiah Morgan – Poetry
- The Truth from Youth and Elders as Discovered in Susan Power’s SACRED WILDERNESS and Steve Berman’s RED CAPS
- Bojan Louis – Creative Non-Fiction
- Nicolaus Montoya – Poetry
- Laura Da – Poetry
- Jennifer Givhan – Poetry
- LeNeil Spotted Horse
- Melissa R Sipin – Fiction
- Velma Kee Craig – Poetry
- Lettie Laughter – Poetry
- Christine Garcia – Poetry
- Michael Armendariz – Poetry
- Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha – Poetry
- Jaye Sablan – Poetry
- Charlie Bast – Poetry
- Tori Cárdenas – Poetry
- Imee Cuison – Mixed Media
- Sandy Lockheart
- Rachelle Cruz – Poetry
- Elsa Valmidiano – Poetry
- David Andrew Talamantes – Fiction
- Celeste Adame – Poetry
- Lorenzo Johnson
- Luis Lopez-Maldonado – Poetry
- Review of Hustle
- Michael Wasson – Poetry
- James Vick
- Kimberly Alidio – Poetry
- Patricia Perea – Poetry
- Kathryn Kilner – Dance
- Steve Mirabal – Poetry
- Tanya Lukin Linklater – Poetry
- Sierra Fredericksen – Photography
- Anna Nelson – Poetry
- Jerry Brunoe – Poetry
- Billey Dooley
- Rachel Ronquillo Gray
- Lisa Hase-Jackson – Poetry
- Natanya Pulley’s Review of My Body Is A Book of Rules
- Victoria Garica – Poetry
- Tria Andrews – Poetry
- Camele-Ann White – Poetry
- Leslie McGraw – Non Fiction
- Vanessa Willoughby – Poetry
- Trevino L. Brings Plenty – Poetry
- Curtis Espinosa – Poetry
- Jessica Helen Lopez – Poetry
- Michael Wolke
- Tiffany Midge – Fiction
- Review of Solecism
- Eve Tuck – Poetry
- Leticia Hernádez-Linares – Poetry
- Annita Lucchesi – Mixed Media
- Leanne Simpson – Fiction
- Review of Islands of Decolonial Love
- Interview with Leanne Simpson
- Elithet Silva – Creative Non-Fiction
- Vincent Lewis – Poetry
- Lionel Scott
- Acknowledgements
- Contributor Bios
- Issue 5
- Letter from the Editors
- Fawn Douglas – Cover Artist
- Book Review – Queer and Trans Artists of Color: Stories of Some of Our Lives
- Isabella Fillspipe – #DearNativeYouth Honorable Mention (Middle/High School)
- Sierra Edd – #DearNativeYouth Poetry Contest (College) Winner
- Charli Fool Bear – #DearNativeYouth Honorable Mention (College)
- Hailey Nez – #DearNativeYouth Poetry Winner (High/Middle School)
- Natani Notah – Poetry
- Karen Marie Maliwat Villa – Poetry
- Venaya Yazzie – Poetry
- Book Review – Letterrs
- Juanita Pahdopony – Poetry
- Sequoyah Moore – Poetry
- Vanessa Martir – Creative Nonfiction
- Dana Collins – Poetry
- Amanda Huynh – Poetry
- Chelsey Luger – Poetry
- Jessica Lanay – Poetry
- Courtney C Grambrell – Poetry
- Natasha Sharma – Poetry
- Verna Zafra – Poetry
- Melanie Laura – Poetry
- Kanwalroop Kaur Singh – Poetry
- Cynthia Dewi Oka – Poetry
- Vidya Panicker – Poetry
- Aries Hines – Poetry
- Rain Prud’homme-Cranford – Poetry
- Tori Cardenas – Poetry
- Cutcha Risling Baldy – Creative Nonfiction
- Alice Rose Crow-Maar’aq – Creative Nonfiction
- Melanie Fey – Fiction
- Geraldine King – Fiction
- Jacqueline Jones LaMon – Creative Nonfiction
- Famia Nkansa – Creative Nonfiction
- Breauna L. Roach – Creative Nonfiction
- Iris Ruiz – Creative Nonfiction
- Sarena Tien – Creative Nonfiction
- Elsa Valmidiano – Creative Nonfiction
- Issue 6
- Letter from the Editor
- Part 1: I Am From
- Part 2: Bridges, Backs, and Borders*
- Part 3: We Transform (the academy)
- Jenny Davis—Poetry
- Viki Eagle—Photography
- Angel M. Hinzo—Nonfiction
- Thuan M. Duong, Roberta Hunte, and Gita R. Mehrotra—Nonfiction
- Ashley Tsosie-Mahieu—Fiction
- Sarah Rafael Garcia—Nonfiction
- Vanessa Dion Fletcher—Nonfiction
- Daphne Jeyapal and Rupaleem Bhuyan—Essay
- Yvonne Delgado Thomas—Poetry
- Ramona Beltrán—Poetry
- Issue 7
Steve Mirabal – Poetry
I Believe in…
I believe in things that people
never even knew existed,
from a code you follow in prison
to barbwire fences,
to doing shots in Seg,
to the honor pods with fuckin’ window visits.
Some just don’t know
’till they’re thrown into the lion’s den
and consumed.
I’m that doubt in the back of your mind
that says:
“Go bang, sell dope, who cares about dying.”
Well I got tired real fuckin’ fast
of that kinda life.
Now I believe in myself
to do something important
real important.
I don’t know what it is yet,
I lost everything
but the scars are what I kept.
I don’t know why I just fight and fight
I got shot twice,
once in the hand
and
once in the head
and didn’t die.
I ask God, like
What am I doing right?
That’s who I believe in.
Steven Mirabal is a growing writer and performer who confronts ideas of life, incarceration, life experience, in its successes and failures. Steven’s raw, honest, and accessible poetry, gives his readers and audience a true depiction of what life is like for a young brown male in the Southwest. Unapologetic and candid, Mirabal allows himself to be vulnerable, open, and creative, while at the same time guiding himself and his readers in a direction towards understanding and healing.
(photo credit: Diahndra Grill)
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