Content Warning (CW): implied SA
i'm six at the tsimis party, unfinished
Akira Ritos
​
& my hands are splashing
a tablet screen littered with fish
his breath threatens to
swallow my neck whole
vowels pour out warm & high
from his alcohol throat
he is all grit & tobacco stains
& he laughs like a 5am shade
like his kids aren’t downstairs
waiting for him to start the car
& neither me nor his kids nor my
father know what happens then
in diaphanous robes.
Akira Ritos (they/she) is a queer Filipino currently living in the cornfields of Urbana. They were previously published in WrongDoing Magazine, Marias At Sampaguitas, Yuzu Press, the lickety split, and more. In 2023, they were an AWP Honorable Mention in Creative Nonfiction and their developing debut manuscript was shortlisted for ThirtyWest’s Publishing Chapbook Contest. A 2023 RootsWoundsWords Poetry fellow and a reader for The Los Angeles Review, their work is forthcoming in Beaver Magazine’s anthology. Find them on Instagram @akirasoh and @akirasohspice on Twitter.