issue 4
february 22, 2020
Butt VII
by Ruby Western
editors’ note
2020!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh gosh. Where have we been? Where have we not? Well, definitely not Florida. At least, not recently. But yes: Maine. Crying, or on the brink of crying. Thrift stores with some amazing blazers. Hot dog stands. Chinatowns. Basement poetry readings. Chicago winters. Boston winters. Winter winters. Late night FaceTimes.
We had important conversations about how our shared projects are wonderful, but our friendship must come first—we’ve had a lot to work out, as besties often do. So, we had to slow down. And this issue got super delayed. Mhm. Thank you for bearing with us. And like, hello! We’re back. We’re blonging like we’ve never blonged before. Seriously: this issue is iconic.
The contributors for issue 4 know Underblong even better than we do. They figured it out! They figured us out! They picked up what we were putting down! From tone to toes to terrifically wild formatting, these poems kept us alive, made us more alive. Who knew a sonnet could contain both bok choi and Helen of Troy? Bailey Cohen-Vera knew. And if you’re going to plan your dream funeral, you better look to Panda Wong for inspiration: “i want fifty dancers on fifty poles.” And really, our entire aesthetic and life-force has been summed up by MJ Santiago: “I want all of life's cheesy, sauce-covered things.”
This issue feels like the future has found us. This issue feels like a map hidden in our space goggles. These poets are showing us how to break what needs breaking and how to build, as A. Shaikh writes, “a vehicle of immense transgression.” And we are dreaming of the blongy future. We are discussing how to support our contributors better, how to increase our presence in online literary communities, how to stay on top of our shit.
We will be taking a brief hiatus from accepting submissions while we gather ourselves and plan our next steps.
In the meantime, gather your anuses around issue 4!
Love,
Chen & Sam
P.S. Thanks once again to Jeff Gilbert for helping us with the audio files <3~
poems
Stephanie Chang - “we just wanna see”
Tess Liem - “$1 Per Word for Travel Writing”
Panda Wong - “my dream funeral”
Jess Rizkallah - “Metadata”
antmen pimentel mendoza - “I Lean into the Throat of Summer” and “Self-Portrait as the Potato that Flew around My Room”
Jennifer Huang - “song of 臭豆腐 (stinky tofu)”
Niyanta Kunal Patel - “dear god/oh god”
A. Prevett - “ripejawceremony”
Devanshi Khetarpal - “Cruciverba #2”
derek berry - “iva”
Bailey Cohen-Vera - “After Walking Out of The Tub, I Turn Around & See You” and “Rumination on Black Holes” and “Sonnet”
Ina Cariño - “Infinitives” and “Milk”
Patrick Mullen-Coyoy - “Ariana Grande Plays the Song of Time”
Evelyn N. Alfred - “Free range”
A. Shaikh - “honey we 2019 (i remain alive)” and “20 y/o queer confessional”
Myles Taylor - “THIS SUMMER HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE MIRACULOUS”
interview
with Cameron Awkward-Rich (by Mag Gabbert)
Ruby Western (she/her) is a very tall Chicago-based queer artist. She grew up in Vermont, studied painting at Smith College and the Slade School of Fine Art, London, then moved to the city to do comedy. She worked as Amy Krouse Rosenthal's assistant for several years, and now runs a graphic design business (the aptly named Ruby Western Design). She spends most of her time working on art for queer health initiatives, laughing with sweet friends, and dancing in various fur frocks. More: rubywestern.com.