by Anthoula Lelekidis
into the sky
the thing is, talking about resistance on the monkey bars means the children might hear, might clutch at the words like dampened sand in the box down the sidewalk, decide something is to be done, pick up their trowels and march on their teachers. spare none, not even the grey-haired lady with the Smarties in her pocket (she still chooses when snack is over, after all), those small legs might charge forward, stumbling over wood chips, triumphant in their promise, red plastic trucks may soar through air, thrown pebbles meet their targets, in the frenzy, the littlest one might run to strike at knees, chubby fists as the morning sun when he is wrenched into the sky by arms that think it right, let it not be said he did not know, in the end, let it not be said we did not know, the thing is, i still don’t want you to go—
Em Roth (they) is an educator and organizer in Boston. They believe in the promise of liberation and are enamored with the way that goats look in the sunset. If you are moved in any way by their work, they encourage you to donate to https://gazafunds.com/. Their poetry has been previously published by beestung, BRAWL Lit, and the B’K.
Anthoula Lelekidis is a first-generation Greek-American lens-based artist who utilizes photography, printmaking, and image transfer in her practice. Her work navigates themes of personal memory, migration, and identity. With a deep interest in the archive, Lelekidis manipulates found family photographs to delve into the complexities of her ancestry, reimagining the blank spaces and uncovering lost connections to her past. Lelekidis holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Parsons School of Design and was awarded a Community Fellowship from the International Center of Photography. She was an artist-in-residence at the Skopelos Foundation of the Arts in Greece and earned a scholarship from the Students On Ice Organization to travel to photograph Antarctica. More recently, she was the recipient of the Manhattan Graphics Center’s printmaking scholarship in 2022 and NYFA’s Queens Art Fund: New Work Grant in 2023. She is a faculty member at the International Center of Photography and is based in Queens, New York.
https://www.instagram.com/anthoulalelekidis/ https://www.anthoulalelekidis.com/