Migration of Fish and Femininity

Emma Paris

My great grandmother washes the dishes;
hands slip into the water like salmon,
and emerge like the bear with its next meal.
Her secretive hunt is a crazed dance–
swaying between toothed knife and scraps of bone.
The mangy dog we took in licks her shoe.
His tangled fur picks up dirt from the floor
and carries it from garden to bedroom.
My great grandmother doesn’t like dancing.
A serious woman is made from shame.
I want to show her a new shade of pink,
the flesh, like the scratchy tongue of the dog.
But she is stuck on the pink cupcake crumbs,
clinging to the edge of my soapy plate.

Emma Paris (she/her) is a student at Bennington College studying Poetry and Ecology with a focus on environmental data interpretation for creative works. Her poetry has appeared in VTDigger, Zaum Magazine, the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast, the Northern New England Review, MORIA Literary Magazine, Harpur Palate, and more. She interned at Green Writers Press during the winter of 2025, helping edit and proof upcoming titles in poetry. Emma was recently named the Youth Poet Laureate of Vermont for 2025. Keep up with her on instagram at @vt_youth_poet_laureate_2025 

Art: Yongxi (Vivian) Lin is an illustrator and printmaker based in New York. She completed her undergraduate studies in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts and is currently pursuing Printmaking at Pratt Institute. Her work often blends illustration and printmaking, exploring themes of personal narrative, emotional storytelling, and cultural hybridity. Through her art, she reflects both visible joys and hidden struggles, creating imagery that is playful yet thoughtful.