metamorphosis

micro magazine of poetry inspired by Biophilia

in the sleeves of my arms, a sprouting of feathers. gravity’s leash forgets me. there are clouds to be consumed, an infinity of blues to memorise. home is no longer the weighted heart. here, the buoyant years— I name the wind ‘sister’. Saraswati Nagpal

I am grateful for buoyancy in the last month, for how the practice of dance brings presence and reshapes the heart in textures of gratitude. we are capable of metamorphosis, our practice of art altering the shape of the world, our place in it.

today’s mini-magazine is the first of our curated collections with Biophilia-inspired poetry. we are delighted to bring you the excellent work of Amanda Trout, Risha Lotter, Liz Asch Greenhill, Sofia Bagdade, Miriam Grace, and Vanessa Napolitano, paired with art by Daria Beer. each poem is a doorway – we hope you feel the awe we do when we step over these thresholds.

STONES
Miriam Grace

A frog hatched from a peach stone.
He grew feathers, and they called him Wet God
but he would not sing.

~

The water flows orange, wandering from the mine
Aspects of stone drift up, in slipstream, 
drift down.
and come to rest, depending on density.

~

The notion of the earth as a shell.
as a base material
as the prison-industrial complex
as your hand.

~

A seabird strokes the air
with each primary.
The sea is out of frame.

ON SUMMER SOLSTICE I GROW A SECOND SKIN
Vanessa Napolitano

Lying on the half-parched grass
next to half a glass of orange wine.
Amber and chartreuse. I begin.
Several years I have performed this trick.

Pull through the silk cells like thread.
First you believe; then like caterpillar punches
through soil, stitching felt. A face over your face.
A skein of skin across your heart.

A fine pair of skin jodhpurs over your legs.
An evening glove of skin from elbow to nail.
Burned steady from this charmed long day,
grown bindweed-fast from this blessed light.

Who will think to harm you does not know
that you wear a skin over your skin;
that they must wait for the days to wane
before endurance fades again.

BRAIDING THE SPINE
Liz Asch Greenhill

            In the hollow of my body, I let a curtain of hair replace my spine. It is long and thick, cascading down the center of me like a horse’s tail. The curtain separates the front half of my body from the back half. It shimmers as I breathe. 

           I can see my hands, large, translucent, luminous, holding a brush, holding the hair, beginning to comb it. As the brush releases the tangles, it makes a static sound. After the bristling is a startling sheen. The curtain of hair feels clean and orderly, majestic and soft. My hands smooth the just-brushed hair, the cool strands shining. I start at the top and work my way down, parting the hair into three. I let my body feel calmed, cleaned, soothed as I start to braid. I imagine layering the segments of hair one after the other forming a fishtail. I always fall back to sleep before the mane is fully braided.

MONA TREEA, Daria Beer

FOAL’S GOLD
Sofia Bagdade

A stag bends his antlers
to the driveway 
in ceremony. 
Stuck in the fence, 
all he angled to do was
welcome a silver car
loud with light. 
Our tight lids 
smothered with 
mittens, engine
idle and exhaust 
layer in requiem.
Yellow eyes wild
in the bush as ours
through the wool. 
In my memory
your face is bare
as the legs tangled
up in the gate, all 
I could think about
as you bit your 
thumbnail, how 
animals gaze 
placid as a frozen
lake with rocks
switch-blading across
the surface when 
trapped, how
greeting turns
to trespass and the
mangled trust of
two creatures 
approaching a 
doorway looks like
antlers lightning-
struck by high 
beams

thank you for reading and sharing forward the work of these poets. Daria Beer’s art first appeared in our Portrait issue. and if you missed these gorgeous Pushcart-nominated poems from our Hinterland issue, you can read them here.

our call for essays/ fiction/ hybrid pieces is still open. we’d love to read your work. you can find more details on submissions here.

until next time…

Saraswati and Jai Michelle

read about today’s poets and artist here:

Amanda Trout is a Midwestern US writer with a love for sound, form, and cicadas. Her work has been featured by several publications and publishers, including Raw Earth Ink, Loud Coffee Press, and Apple in the Dark. Her first micro-chapbook, Still Life, was published by Yavanika Press in Summer 2024.

Risha Lotter is a South African writer and interpreter whose creative work is shaped by her love of wild places and myths. She explores language, landscape, and liminality in her newsletter and podcast, Case Files of a Fool for Life.

Liz Asch Greenhill is a writer, artist, and acupuncturist based in Portland, Oregon. Her podcast, Body Land Metaphor Medicine, offers listeners embodied guided visualizations that help restore the nervous system, build resilience, and connect us more deeply to the planet. Liz is the author of Your Salt on My Lips and host of the Recto/Verso interview podcast. 

Sofia Bagdade is a poet from New York City. Her work appears in One Art, The Shore, and Roi Fainéant Press, among other publications. More of her work can be found at sofiabagdade.weebly.com. She finds joy in smooth ink, orange light, and French Bulldogs. 

Miriam Grace is based in Scotland. Her poetry asks how humans can situate and sustain ourselves in a world with ever less nature, and how nature might console and haunt us. Her background includes biological and ecological research, and she is currently exploring the links between nature-based activities and well-being.

Vanessa Napolitano is a Yorkshire-based poet who enjoy making ordinary moments into poems. She has published three pamphlets, including ‘Various Magics’ with Black Cat Poetry Press, and ‘Birds & Bruises’ with Kelsay Books. You can find her work in  journals such as Stanchion, Humana Obscura, and Ink, Sweat and Tears. Her next chapbook will be published by Stanchion press in May, 2026.

Daria Beer, a collage artist and graphic designer, lives in Toronto, Canada. Originally from Poland, she completed her art education at OCAD in Toronto. Her collages predominantly focus on portraying the strength and beauty of women while intertwining the powerful elements of nature. Daria’s creative approach is deeply intuitive, sparked by her travels, surreal art, and profound connection to nature. When not working on her art, you’ll find her travelling, gardening, canoeing, hiking, or exploring the art scene in her city. @dbcreative_collage