April Michelle Bratten
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aprilmbratten.bsky.social
April Michelle Bratten
@aprilmbratten.bsky.social
170 followers 140 following 12 posts
editor of @upthestaircase.bsky.social. bi. she/her. 🌨
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Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
chapp010.bsky.social
Thank you to Editor @aprilmbratten.bsky.social for selecting my poem - " 'Dans ces beiges très confortables.,' " written after Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire - to appear in Issue 71 of @upthestaircase.bsky.social. I'm honored to share these pages with so many wonderful poets and artists.
Carrie Chappell with Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire. Carrie Chappell's poem, 'Dans ces beiges très confortables.,' after Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire. Continuation of Carrie Chappell's poem, 'Dans ces beiges très confortables.,' after Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire. A page from Hélène Bessette's Ida ou le délire.
November 1, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
vikkicwrites.bsky.social
Grateful to have a new poem 'Childhood' included in Issue 71 of @upthestaircase.bsky.social alongside a wealth of talent!

Huge thank you to EIC @aprilmbratten.bsky.social for selecting my work ❤️
upthestaircase.org/vikki-c.html

(ALT TEXT included)

Check out the full issue at the link in replies.
Vikki C. | Childhood Mostly, I wasted it, in refuse sites bright with strangers’ belongings, throwaways and condemned vehicles. They are planning to turn the toxic lake into a freshwater reservoir. Permission granted the summer you left. They will name it Tranquility. Introduce lush colonies of fish to colour in the stenciled dark. Powdered pellets of sedatives skimming the water at dusk, to send those creatures to sleep—even as light radiation peaks. The glow must have been my mother visiting, as promised. She, another site of special scientific interest, treated too late. Each time those harsh rays shone through her like sabers, I innocently sketched them around another circle—to make a new sun. Below, an emerald landscape reaching to meet it, the sprinkler set to a gentle spray. My father walking through the rainbowed spectrum, as if returning. I would wait—longer than I counted—for his steps to draw near, for the key to turn in the lock, and amber to pour through the crack, illuminating the pairs of animal figures, who waited too. The ending was less than he remembers—a rearrangement of night and TV static, the bent August heat on oily kneecapped roads. Some alien waterlilies, like retired ballerinas, larger than a man’s fists, overtaking the sidewalks. Surviving, rootless. Like all other variables, the experts couldn't explain such condition. Water versus concrete. Truth versus playground. The vapour in those polished mason jars, never too tightly sealed.
November 1, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
Issue 71 of Up the Staircase Quarterly is live! Cover art by Lauren Rinaldi.

Thanks so much to all of our contributors! You can read the issue at upthestaircase.org
November 1, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
rabihalameddine.bsky.social
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) - Small Horned Owl on Maple Branch under Full Moon
August 11, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
We decided to sweeten your Friday with our themed summer issue. Kindred: Poems on Platonic Love is now live!

www.upthestaircase.org
August 1, 2025 at 1:52 PM
aprilmbratten.bsky.social
I've got 3 new poems in this sparkling issue ✨️

Thanks so much to the editors for including my work 😊 You are a bright spot in a dark world.
June 22, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
vismai.bsky.social
"If alive, then all alone and bleeding. If dead,
then freshly dead. If not alone, then swarmed

with ants and flies, thick flies like biting July
berries. If swarmed with maggots, biblical."

Dream of the Moose Calf, Zeke Shomler in @upthestaircase.bsky.social
www.upthestaircase.org/zeke-shomler...
Zeke Shomler
If alive, then all alone and bleeding. If dead, then freshly dead. If not alone, then swarmed   with ants and flies, thick flies like biting July berries. If swarmed with maggots, biblical. If...
www.upthestaircase.org
June 2, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
leemadgwick.bsky.social
Plight (2020)
Oil and acrylic on canvas
A large fishing trawler lodged atop a tall iceberg. Graffiti covers the hull of the boat. Gulls gather above.
June 10, 2025 at 8:09 AM
aprilmbratten.bsky.social
Btw I have brand new poems, plural, coming out soon 👀😌
June 6, 2025 at 7:09 PM
aprilmbratten.bsky.social
😏
June 6, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
tacobellquarterly.org
Taco Bell makes you gay. Happy Pride!
June 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
emmabolden.bsky.social
i just — like i don’t trust myself to work after taking a benadryl, and this guy slice and diced our entire fucking government after taking enough drugs to launch his brain into space. what the fuck is even happening
May 31, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
tacobellquarterly.org
It's just words and you're just meat and nothing actually matters. Now go write your book.
June 1, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
artnau.bsky.social
Companions (diptych), 2001 by Kiki Smith
April 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
screendoorreview.bsky.social
Psssssst! We're getting our June/Pride issue together & are still reading subs PLUS we've opened up submissions for cover art. Show us what you have! We pay $40 for cover art & believe in showcasing the brilliance of queer southerners. :)

screendoorreview.submittable.com/submit
Screen Door Review Submission Manager
Screen Door Review is a triannual literary magazine that publishes poetry and flash fiction authored by individuals belonging to the southern queer (lgbtq) community of the United States. The purpose ...
screendoorreview.submittable.com
May 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
aprilmbratten.bsky.social
I "lost" poetry for a number of years but it is steadily making its way back to me. I haven't felt this inspired in ages. And yes, I have actually been writing.
May 29, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
Chilean artist Livia Marin, teapot from the ´Nomad Patterns´ series (2012) #womensart
May 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
Celebrate friendship and community with Up the Staircase!

We are seeking poetry and art for our themed issue, Kindred: Poems on Platonic Love.

Deadline: July 1st

upthestaircase.org
May 24, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
We are seeking cover art submissions for our future issues!

Cover art can be of any genre or discipline and must contain a *staircase* somewhere in the work (but does not have to be the focal point).

Visit our guidelines for more information: www.upthestaircase.org/submit.html
Up the Staircase Quarterly
a journal of poetry and art
www.upthestaircase.org
May 23, 2025 at 1:36 PM
aprilmbratten.bsky.social
Moved my bi bunnies banner over to this app and it's starting to feel more cozy 🥰
May 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
Submissions are now open for our special issue Kindred: Poems on Platonic Love. Send us your work about friendship and community:

www.upthestaircase.org
a husky dog is looking at the camera with the words `` everybody has that one friend . ''
ALT: a husky dog is looking at the camera with the words `` everybody has that one friend . ''
media.tenor.com
May 6, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
The new issue of Up the Staircase Quarterly is here 👀 www.upthestaircase.org
May 2, 2025 at 12:50 AM
aprilmbratten.bsky.social
Working on the next issue of UtSQ 🥰
April 26, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
Ready your poems. This summer we are bringing back our themed issues! On May 1st we will open to submissions for our Kindred Issue: Poems on Platonic Love.

More details soon.
March 21, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by April Michelle Bratten
upthestaircase.bsky.social
Have some poems ready for submission? Tonight is the deadline to submit for our May issue:

www.upthestaircase.org
Up the Staircase Quarterly
a journal of poetry and art
www.upthestaircase.org
March 15, 2025 at 7:50 PM