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.

This, Promised Land

BY MATTHEW DRAUGHTER (“EYED SPIRAL” BY EMANUELA IORGA)

Exodus 14: 21-22

pre-eviction: often chronic snow

and wind swooning down

from the darkest moon.

land stolen by man stolen

by man

no milk or honey here, only lights

as snow and roads iced in stars from legends

passed, pushed down, and pulled up from the sea

before the final exit ground to sea

foot to ground paved through the cosmos

of my ancestors, unwinding

here. where water can’t last long

enough to liquid and break back

the memories of you, beating till bound

pre-eviction often looks like promised

lands. no milk or honey here. only boys billowing

buoyantly through clouds, dancing like David danced.


Matthew Draughter is a poet and producer, born and raised in New Orleans. Through living in Paris, Chicago, San Francisco, and Portland he has explored the world through travel, and uses those experiences to create poetry and short films to bond communities together. His poems have been featured in the American Poetry Review, HAÜS Magazine, Color Bloq, and now, Cotton Xenomorph, spanning topics of race, sexuality, addiction, and masculinity through a queer, afro-centric lens

Emanuela Iorga is a filmmaker, artist, and screenwriter, who lives in Chisinau, Moldova. Art represents for her a recently rediscovered passion, following a series of world and inner changes. She was previously published in Jet Fuel Review, Beyond Words and Please See Me. Her work can also be found at https://manolcaincosmos.wordpress.com/270

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