We are so thrilled to introduce our newest poet, Laura Manardo. We will be publishing her fantastic chapbook LEMON WATER IN LAKE MICHIGAN in late February. Here is a poem from the chapbook so you can start to dig her style:

Irrawaddy Dolphins and Casual Sex

Like the Irrawaddy dolphin,

I have sex for pleasure

and it ruins me

because I need you to hold me afterward

in the Mekong River.

I need you

to swim alongside me

and let me take a breath

from your blowhole.

It is estimated that 91 of us still exist,

Still swim together.

Well, every time I leave

your bed I feel the dead

dolphins lining

the river’s bottom.

They lived

their lives trying to breathe

in each other’s exhaled breaths,

trying to buoy themselves to see

the sun rise and fall

on each other’s backs.

~

Laura Manardo is a 24-year-old graduate student at Columbia College Chicago getting her MFA in Creative Writing-Fiction. You can find Laura in coffee shops working on her poetry and fiction, both about marine life, bodies of water, and her relationship with womanhood. Her most recent publications include Mulberry Fork Review, Maudlin House, Firefly Magazine, and Cacti Fur.