by persis flores
glass houses
if i were a stone
i would hurl myself
hard
at my past
no more
to be gawked at
like that withered iguana
at paradiso palas
an exhibition
never meant
to be lived
a lifetime in
i’d marvel
my quartz beach
jagged splinters
of ravaged glitter
Jaymz Lea (he/they) is a queer human, playing with words for the annoyingly joyful jostle. They are a mental health professional, published academic and poet. They are chewing on this experience to write about human interiors – at the edges – those othered outed and ousted. He is an excitable nature geek and has shared much of his adult life with a queen, his cat, Effie. Jaymz is ridiculously happy to have had some of their pieces published in the Passionfruit Journal, Wildfire Words and Poetry Wales spring issues 2025 as one of the top 60 Welsh poets to keep an eye on.
persis flores writes more than she talks. she practices a poetics of attention to people, to expressions, to everyday gestures rooted in meaning and care. her attempts at photography, poetry, and music are her micro-routes to learning more about the world and herself. she intentionally gets lost, allowing herself to flow between pages, photos, poems, and percussion to recharge her soul’s battery. “creation is the language of purpose” is the mantra she lives by — and the one she hopes will be etched on her epitaph someday https://linktr.ee/persisflores https://hellopersis.com/about/ https://substack.com/@persisflores https://www.instagram.com/persisflores