Cotton Xenomorph is a literary journal produced with the mission to showcase written and visual art while reducing language of oppression in our community. We are dedicated to uplifting new and established voices while engaging in thoughtful conversation around social justice.

Mostly I'd like to be a spider web

Rainy Island.jpg

by CT Salazar (art by KT Howard)

            For Charissa

because in the rain I’d look like a cracked window
without a church to belong to. You could look

            through me and see the world in front of us.

One time, my ex-lovers made a road of tongues for me.
I took my shoes off to feel the song a little better,

and cut a note short with each step.

I want to tell you how many churches
I’ve been building to praise little things that deserve
more than their few seconds of existence.

Like the time I opened the door, smelled hibiscus
            perfume and knew you were home.

            Like the time a child told me there was a God
            and because he was smiling, I believed him.

Mostly, I’d like to be a spider web to feel you walk through.
To see if you’ll take me with you, despite the spider I bring.


C.T. Salazar is a Hispanic poet living in Mississippi. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Tampa Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Harpoon Review, The Matador Review, Bad Pony, FLARE: the Flagler Review, and elsewhere. He's the editor-in-chief of Dirty Paws Poetry Review. He's an MFA candidate and children's librarian. 

(Artist) KT Howard studied creative writing at UW-Madison and is now learning journalism as an assistant editor at a trade magazine. She's studied abroad in London, took a working holiday in Wellington, and currently resides in Madison, WI. Her favorite library in the world is the Wellington Public Library Central Branch. In her spare time, she enjoys giant robot anime, cooking, and annoying the cat. You can occasionally find her online at her personal blog KT's Bookshelf or Instagram @Morike91


Artist's Statement, "Rainy Island", digital photography

If you walk into a forest, you can only walk halfway before you start walking out. From my home state of Wisconsin, New Zealand is that halfway point on a global scale. Striking mountains, giant skies, and more green than you can digest are the defining characteristics of that beautiful country, but that is not the New Zealand I am showing you now.

These photos are snapshots of my adventures, taken from all the places I have been. Two are from Wellington, where I made my nest. I believe art can be found in the simple and mundane, which is why I carry my camera, to capture those moments. It is also why you won’t see a sweeping cloudscape in these photos. Unusual landscape? That I have (“Rainy Island”).

I hope at least one of these photos make you say “Wow” under your breath, just like I did when I snapped it. If one did, then I did my job as a photographer and artist.

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