POETRY — Split Lip Magazine

This “accent” that I can’t lose & they can’t place

most times, people can hear the twang
before I do, this southern relic on my tongue they

poetry, 2026SLMFebruary 14, 2026Tara Betts

Mascot

before the parade at the forgotten war park
children pretend to kill one another with sticks
old war heroes wear vests heavy with symbols

poetry, 2026SLMJanuary 14, 2026Joan Kwon Glass

YOU LOOK JUST LIKE THE BASTARD

My daddy, all honey & heartthrob, smooth
rain slid slick down panes of glass. My daddy
bladed shade, all wicked glint & stride. My daddy

poetry, 2025SLMDecember 14, 2025Tariq Thompson

Inference

You offer me an English-language
Qur’an. Thanks

poetry, 2025SLMNovember 14, 2025Stella Wong

haiku where i lay / with OCD, obsessing / over syllables

tonight i’m stillborn / a.k.a envisioning / demands from god, why /
his fist breaks into / my open mouth again and / again to salvage /
some black skeleton / or a stomach of prozac / hardening into /
beetleshell or this / throat of antennae leaving / me. everything takes /

poetry, 2025SLMOctober 14, 2025Mingyu Brian Chan

Of Shade

I did not see her bedroom mirror
shatter but I heard it—muffled scream &

poetry, 2025SLMSeptember 14, 2025Michal ‘MJ’ Jones

Cruising in the Motor City

Last night I spoke to James Baldwin. We were sitting in a confession booth that was also a glory hole.

poetry, 2025SLMJune 14, 2025Alex Bortell

From Holes We Emerged, and Into Holes We Shall Return

I put my fingers inside the moon
like a mouth, to see how wide

poetry, 2025SLMMay 14, 2025Ally Ang

My Therapist Tells Me to Try Meditation

How can I concentrate when my left
hip is an unattended campfire?

poetry, 2025SLMApril 14, 2025Amy Thatcher

Minor Subjects

Loose-jawed anchovy swimming circles in the aquarium display

poetry, 2025SLMMarch 14, 2025Laetitia Keok

You walk up to the park and there’s one Chinese guy

running the court, directing traffic, crossing over
his defender and dropping him. He jumps a pass
because he knows who’s scared to shoot.

poetry, 2025SLMFebruary 14, 2025Andy Chen

in a parallel universe, there is nothing i cannot do

there she lay sleeping there in the before what if they hadn’t woken her what if they let her
finish her sleep cycle would she have emerged full grown butterfly some mix of pj harvey’s

poetry, 2025SLMJanuary 14, 2025Jill Kitchen

Mean Streak

Now I’m going to use you
like the most beautiful object in the world. I am

poetry, 2024SLMDecember 14, 2024Kaitlyn Airy

Bisquick's Dance Break

My baddie’s got sweat from the chin
groove to his throat latch, he’s got warmers
from his pastern to his gaskin.

poetry, 2024SLMNovember 14, 2024C. Russell Price

Tove's Cento: Youth

Youth costs, and I’ve always kept up
on the price. When I turn eighteen the world
will be different in every way. Outside,

poetry, 2024SLMOctober 14, 2024Séamus Isaac Fey

Ghazal for My Gay Ass

No lie, my tongue breaks down before a beautiful boy.
Poetic superpowers stripped, I return a plain-old boy:

poetry, 2024SLMSeptember 14, 2024Max Pasakorn

a photo bro asked me a patronizing question in 2016 & I am still thinking about it

neons & member number thirteen of my little
black book asks me what i find most important

poetry, 2024SLMJune 14, 2024nat raum

Sorry I Didn't Call You Back

Because I was in the ER. Because I was bitten by [ ]. Because I almost died. Because I drowned in makgeolli one July. Because the hanbok didn’t fit.

poetry, 2024SLMMay 14, 2024Arah Ko

Ode to My Preposterous Tiny Moustache’s First International Flight

now and at last / not a second too soon / this soft profusion / vellus giving over / to bristled glory / to suck with bottom lip /

poetry, 2024SLMApril 14, 2024Dylan McNulty-Holmes

Galentine’s Day

Harry calls me Lover so exclusively
it’s permeated my self-talk: Lover, The Eudemian
Ethics won’t read itself. Lover, just enjoy
the unseasonable warmth. But enough about lovers!

poetry, 2024SLMFebruary 14, 2024Kurt David