Grown Ocean

THIS WORLD IS CRUEL TO THOSE WHOINSIST UPON STAYING OPEN TO IT.MATT MITCHELL THE POEMS IN GROWN OCEANSHOW US AGAIN AND AGAIN IS ONE SUCH SOUL-EVERYWHERE IS AN OCCASIONFOR GRATITUDE AND AWE FROM BUFFALO NICKELS TO COHABITATIONTO MEAT LOAF TO ASTRONOMYTO COKE ZERO TO YES LOVE. AND THAT IS HARD RETAININGSUCH A PERMEABILITY TO TENDERNESSIN A CULTURE A NATION THAT CONSPIRESSO RELENTLESSLY AGAINST IT.ITS GOOD AND NOTABLE WORK THE LOVING THESE POEMS TAKE UP.AND THEYRE VERY GOOD POEMS.-KAVEH AKBAR AUTHOR OF PILGRIM BELLMatt Mitchell is an intersex writer living in Columbus Ohio. He wrote The Neon Hollywood Cowboy (Big Lucks 2021) and tweets @matt_mitchell48.