la fleur de sa peau
by my lover the morning star
Venus of Willendorf 21st Century
by Brigita Zelca-Aispure
Death By Venus (Only of Willendorf)
by Kale Hensley
Have you noticed– the stint between mark and anthropomorphic?
Thousands of years an absence of flesh, as if our pride had not bubbled
over just yet, or we, in between dying animal skin and breakfast, did
not put our faith in the body as the first radiant pocket; how I do sheathe
thee my femme fatale palm-sized, to whom utterance is inadequate–
purely estimate. Had I swam the paths of my predecessors, you would live
close to my chest, a crevice to crevice, for those limestone breasts
are a coveted amulet for any girl’s flat-footed pilgrimage, thy ochre shower
a reminder one would survive the passage of hands calloused or
downy, such as the poet who thought he could ensconce the rugged valley
that is my tongue. Is it wrong to say I love how thy scalp parallels,
its divots rough enough to draw blood from a wandering thumb? Worship
might we, the solipsis of your belly, study must we, the plaguing
resolve of concaved knees. Matters not the presence of hands or feet, Venus.
You have already reached me. The evidence? My burial of blushes.
The work of Cristina, the mind behind my lover the morning star, is constantly morphing and shifting into newer iterations. Right after disbanding her solo project Of the Muses, the Italian singer-songwriter felt the need to start from scratch and allow herself to venture beyond the boundaries of black metal and rock music that defined her musical output up to that point. Thus, my lover the morning star was established in 2025, propelled by the search for a more spacious, maybe even enigmatic sonic palette. The debut EP la fleur de sa peau / armure dorée (“the flower of [his] skin / golden armor”) saw the light on May 20, 2026; consisting of two tracks, entirely written, mixed and mastered by Cristina herself, it marks the beginning of a new creative phase, devoted to mysticism, romance, reverb and minimalistic soundscapes somewhere in between ambient, drone and dark folk. You can find her at myloverthemorningstar.bandcamp.com and instagram.com/myloverthemorningstar.
Brigita Zelca-Aispure is a visual artist. Her solo exhibitions have been featured at the Art Museum ARSENĀLS, Kaņepes Kultūras centrs, the University Botanical Garden, Riga Cathedral’s garden, the Art Academy of Latvia, Glass Gallery, and the Riga Design and Art Secondary School in Latvia. Her work can be found in the collections at the Latvian National Museum of ARt, the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark, and the National Museum in Lviv, Ukraine. Her full portfolio can be found on her website: https://www.brigitazelca.lv/. Brigita lives and works in Riga, Latvia alongside her husband, whose work can be found here: www.sandisaispurs.lv.
Kale Hensley is a poet and visual artist from West Virginia. Their writing has appeared in Gulf Coast, Booth, Evergreen Review, Image, and Sonora Review. They were selected by Adele Elise Williams as the recipient of the 2026 Elmer Kelton Prize for Poetry and selected by Jaia Hamid Bashir for the Clarion Poetry Prize. They work as a Project Editor for Indirect Books. Find more of their writing at www.kalehens.com.