Literary Orphans

The Alchemist by Elijah Noble El

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There are fragments,

moments left,

when shadow turns to magic,

where I’ve bathed in moonlight

and come morning, I’ve become him.

I’ve awakened next to you like I used to.

I’ve spun my tangled strings to gold.

 

We use language in such different ways

and I don’t know why.

 

In this, I’ve learned how to navigate the trees,

while you’ve learned how to silence them,

to ghost their falling. I suppose you’re right

in that the only way a phoenix can grow

is to burn it all down and begin again.

But the forest never asked for its rains and its snakes,

only for a little sun.

 

In dreams I live a life with you through him,

and sometimes, sometimes the dream is so strong

it feels like you love me again.

We make breakfast for the little ones

and fall back into bed, fall back into each other.

Here in this life we can be smart where we were not before.

Here we can bring light to the dark places we couldn’t then.

Here, and here, can you see?

Instead of the cracks, now the gold?

Instead of not enough, someone worth loving?

 

We use language in such different ways

and I don’t know why.

 

The waiter gives fortune and tea.

Maybe soaked into the leaves is

a beginning somewhere.

Cookie breaks open and I try to piece it together again.

I inspect the cracks in the teacup; river trails of gold

telling the story of how not holding on enough

brings mistake.

O Typekey Divider

Elijah Noble El is the twenty-two year old author of The Age of Recovery (2015). His numerous honors include a nomination for Best Writing at the Top Indie Film Awards for the short film Dog-Faced Honey. His work has been featured in Words Dance Magazine, The Rising Phoenix Review, Straylight Magazine, Hooligan Magazine, Persephone’s Daughters, Kerosene Magazine’s CONTRA, Illumination, Exist Magazine, Soul Anatomy, The Odyssey, L’Éphémère Review, Erstwhile Magazine, and elsewhere. El is the co-founder of Girls Don’t Cry, the film division of the literary magazine Persephone’s Daughters, a magazine founded by Meggie Royer dedicated to empowering women who have experienced various forms of abuse and degradation.

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O Typekey Divider

–Art by Thomas H

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