Featured Poetry by M. M. Sunderland

Mercury-Marvin Sunderland (he/him) is a transgender autistic gay man from Seattle with Borderline Personality Disorder. He currently attends the Evergreen State College and works for Headline Poetry & Press. He’s been published by University of Amsterdam’s Writer’s Block, UC Riverside’s Santa Ana River Review, UC Santa Barbara’s Spectrum Literary Journal, and The New School’s The Inquisitive Eater. His lifelong dream is to become the most banned author in human history. He’s @Romangodmercury on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Photography by Co-founder Michael R. Pitter.

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Chicken Little, the Little Bird

as it happened, the sky
got tired of heights
and fell

chicken little, the little bird sings
for a new beginning

an acorn was found in his feather
seeding a the first tree of
a new forest

when a chicken is decapitated
they run
and run
headless

in the blood of
a century of birds
lands into the roots of
a large forest of acorn trees

feathery down
and acorn leaves.

Here, the Little Deer Run

nicked it — that deer in the early
headlights didn’t
see it coming so

here, the little deer run
gracefully away from death

the eyes
parallel as
an astral projection
of impending doom

here, the little deer still
standing terror

only seeing the pits of
flashing lights
before the tunnel

bones crunch
and blood runs

little deer splatters
red hoofprints
from
another way

standing still
the little deer sees
the depths of terror

astral projecting
the one who runs

splattered body
creating schrodinger’s rage

nicked it — that deer in the early
headlights didn’t
see it coming so

here, the little deer run
gracefully away from death.

I’d Love to Make You a Seattle Tourist

i wanted
to write a love poem

about how i’d love to make you a
seattle tourist

because you
are so
far away
and have never been here
and i want to see
the joy of you
discovering another city

i want to
see your eyes light up
at the view
from the windows of the
space needle elevator

i want to
hold your hand
at the top of the view
of this great big city

i want to kiss you
in the top of the space needle

i want to
hold you close
under an umbrella
this rain city is cold
but i promise i’ll keep you warm

i want to
bring you to the
museum of pop culture
watch you relish
in your geeky joys

i want to
show you all the henry murals
and take you out to
dick’s drive-in restaurant
show you the
bright, colorful warmth

i want to
take you to the seattle art museum
see you gawk at the giant hammering man statue
take you to all the exhibits
and enjoy the
quiet beauty

i want to
take you to the pike place market
and show you
the bright and great gum wall
and laugh at this
bizarre and disgusting yet beautiful
wall of nothing but
other people’s used gum pieces

i want to
take you to uwajimaya
and buy you imported delights

i know you have
never been to my city and
i want to make you a tourist
when you are so far away

i want to kiss you
in the top of the space needle

and i wanted
to write you a love poem
but

i don’t know if
i’ll ever see you again

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