February 2022

OW004: Hell or Mercy? by Maya Martinez. order here.

Maya Martinez’s Hell or Mercy? cartwheels into the surrealist fetishism of the everyday. In the absurd way Anaïs Nin could troll Anaïs Nin, Maya desexualizes pleasure in order to eroticize the desperation of her generation. Work may be a perversion – the original sin – but this is where we find each other, in the heart of the profane. Private and public spheres collapse into our only reality: fantasy. Hell or Mercy? is a Bataillean leveling of desire and violence to create a new order of worshipping nature, piss, feet. Martinez sees the sacred in the debased, celebrates the stars fucking the stars, and turns manifesting into kink. These poems are lubricated with drool, mutant daffodils, and the God complex inside of us all.

Hell or Mercy? (OW 004) was printed in February 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio by Empress Editions. It is Other Weapons’ fourth title.

Florida raised, Maya Martinez is 26, a writer, and living.

This is God God God God Gawd Gawd Gawd Gawd. My piss is God to these ants. My piss is dirty rain. My spit is God. My cum is God. The sores on my thighs are God God God God. I meet God every day. Every stranger is God and I am also God. God meets himself in me every day. And I am moved by the hands of God God God God Guh Awe Duh Guuuhhh Aweeee Duuuuhhh

OW 003: Pumpjack by Rosie Stockton

order here

What emerges when two fields are put next to each other without any legible relation? If common sense urges us to step out of harm’s way, Pumpjack is born from combustible ecologies and political vulnerabilities to reframe danger via devotion. Following a Blakean descent into the Central Valley oil fields and corporate Champagne Rooms, Stockton twists through slurred conversation on extraction, consent, and labor. We must insist on never following leaders, direct our scams at the state, and know that the gift-giver is the lucky one.

Rosie Stockton is a poet living in Los Angeles. They are the author of Permanent Volta (Nightboat Books 2021).

tonight i work

to hate adam’s order

in order to fill our

little room, yes i eat

to strip his state

pockets perfectly

Pumpjack (OW 003) was printed in January 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio by Empress Editions. It is Other Weapons’ third title.

Cover Images and illustrations by Willa Nasatir.