Philly Chapbook Review is pleased to present Maria Giesbrecht’s poem “Love does not exist” as our second monthly featured poem from a full-length book for Issue 12: Summer 2026. You can find more poetry in her book, A Little Feral, available from Write Bloody Publishing.
Love does not exist
except in the black licorice
lake, two ships splashing
like children. But then love
does not exist when one
stops. I’m from a family
where it hurts to cough
out loud. Not in the lungs,
but in the medical belly
of a soul. Where two forceps
pull dreams from our scalps
for fun. What are we waiting
for then, except to die?
About the Poem
This poem was inspired by a dream I had where two ships morphed into two little children playing in a lake. I had this strange feeling when I woke up that it meant something more and started writing a poem to see if anything would reveal itself to me. What came up was a nihilistic, surreal sort of questioning.
Author Bio
Maria Giesbrecht is a Canadian poet whose work explores her Mexican and Mennonite roots. Her writing has appeared in The Literary Review of Canada, Grain, ONLY POEMS, San Pedro River Review, and elsewhere. She is the winner of the 2025 Jack McCarthy Book Prize, a Best of Net nominee, and the founder of Gather, an international writing community that connects poets worldwide. Born in Durango, Mexico, she now lives in Toronto, Canada with her fiancée.
From Love does not exist
In A Little Feral, Maria Giesbrecht delivers a debut collection that navigates faith, family, and personal resurrection through a voice at once wild, intimate, and quietly rebellious. Written in the aftermath of leaving a conservative Mennonite upbringing, these poems chart a parallel journey of breaking away — from father, from God, from the confines of obedience. Giesbrecht’s language is lyrical and unflinching, a cadence that moves between tenderness and defiance, weaving ancestral memory with moments of stark revelation.
A Little Feral asks readers to reimagine where holiness might be found — in the fractures of family, in the undoing of inherited faith, and even in the loneliness of a world shaped by patriarchy and exile.
Available from: Write Bloody Publishing
Contents
Chapbook Poem: Slow Burn by Evan Wang
“The concept of personifying a slow burn deeply resonated with who I thought myself to be—a slow burn, love flickering around me.” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for April 2026, “Slow Burn” by Evan Wang, along with a few words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: She wants shimmering scales by Nicole Alston Zdeb
“The nexus of the erotic, the social, and the body felt relevant to what I was experiencing at the end of the 20th Century. There are glimmers of personal lore as well…” Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for April 2026, “She wants shimmering scales” from The End of Welcome by Nicole Alston Zdeb, along with a few words from the poet.
“I wanted to explore how time was registered not only by the calendar and clock, but also in the various utilitarian tasks of my mother’s life.” Read three poems by Ron Mohring, our first biweekly poet of the Spring 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Fuse.”
Three Poems by Andrew Pelham-Burn
“Children in these circumstances are deprived of love at a formative stage and learn to immediately behave like adults without the benefit of the learning path of childhood.” Read three poems by Andrew Pelham-Burn, our second biweekly poet of the Spring 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Conkers.”
A Conversation with John deSouza
“Language is a powerful tool and can do great harm both to ourselves and to those most close to us when used cruelly or selfishly.” Poet John deSouza discusses his chapbook, This Rough Magic, his creative process, and the influence of John Ashbery in this interview with editor Danielle McMahon.