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.

History of the Ark

BY jason b. crawford


A pop quiz


1. and as all things do, this must start...


{a} in fire—kissing the knees of our brick homes. So easily
spread the french-tongued flame. Embers cascading
the clay-smeared doors.


{b} in Pompeiiing the bent frame of the earth’s crust. A world
ravaged by its own copper lungs. Stones silent enough to crack
a glass’ wake wide open.


{c} in a gust of wind aimed at our bodies. Parallel
to the tearing of the earth’s paper bones. All that
is laid in ash and dust and gold debris spreading across the sea.


{d} in leaving.



jason b. crawford (They/He/She) born in Washington DC and raised in Lansing, MI, is the author of Year of the Unicorn Kidz. They have poems in or forthcoming in POETRY

An Interrogation of the Official State Fossil of Indiana

Semiotics