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November 11, 2023

Please note this is a collective statement in solidarity with Palestine from publishers, editors, and writers around the world who stand for justice, first posted on Verso... Read more

Tyra Forde

Listen to Tyra read from her piece:Textile · Tyra Forde - A Plate Away My grandparents have lived in the same three-bedroom house in Cambridge since they immigrated to Canada from Bridgetown, Ba... Read more

Aashay Dalvi

“Give me some space.” “You’re taking up too much space.” “I need some space right now.” “Let’s give them some space.” “Trust me, it’s not gonna take up that much spa... Read more

Land acknowledgments are at risk of becoming quotidian; it’s now standard for Canadian litmags to include one on their inside cover. We wanted to be more intentional in our acknowledgment of the land … Read more

Rumaisa Bhatti Conan Stark Shukri Abdi Areeba Shaikh

Last year students from Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute (CHCI) filled the pages of issue i with creative writing and visual art. For issue ii, we had hoped to continue our collaboration with the … Read more

Zainab Mahdi

The streets were eternal back thenback when back seat was a canopy of armsstretched out like the solsticethe thump of tire on chewed cementjolting the deviance from feeble bodiesMomma was no pilot,... Read more

Omi Ra

“Dawn! Come put on yuh shoes!” Dawn’s mother exclaimed from the kitchen, a small room at the back of the house where a portable kerosene stove and a tall eggshell white fridge fed the family ... Read more

Ariya Mamun

When Soma was six the fireflies used to get tangled in her hair, clouds would shape themselves into castles for her to rule, and lemonade tasted sweeter. Her mouth would get numb from eating too mu... Read more

Samantha Estoesta Williams

The first time I saw Apo Tudo, The Ilocano rain deity, I swear, he sent mist to that mountain Outside of Baguio Kissing the Filipino soil with sweet promises and tearful memories My grandmother share... Read more

Nitica Sakharwade

Indira Gandhi Airport (New Delhi), 19th Oct 2016 The seat belt sign is lit. I stare at the screen, struggling to choose a movie. Baba must be reaching home joining Aai for a cup of chai. ... Read more

Connor Chin-Quee

“Where are you from?” Usually, people don’t believe that I’m Jamaican, on account of me not having an accent, not speaking patwa—and also not being Black. They don’t generally have a pr... Read more

Seemab Zahra

Listen to Seemab read her poem:Textile · Enigma - Seemab Zahra What mystery do you hide in your inability to endure a dream that is empty of my existence? Now I am in disbelief; For you have bec... Read more

Hiba Adel El Miari

(1) كلُّ لاجئٍ قصيدةٌ. (2) أنا القصيدةُ: كان كاتبي على عجلٍ، فلم يضع ليَ عنواناً. تركني على مكتبِه ثم غادرَ. �... Read more

Ryan Antooa

Say it loudFor those with fabrics of beingTattered, brokenReturning to the Earth they were sewn fromFor those who wishTheir bodies were wrapped in cloth dyed differentlyNot having dying instantlyWi... Read more

We are living through dangerous times. And dangerous times require innovative and creative solutions to bring new voices to the table. That is exactly the space that Textile aims to create with the... Read more

Meseret Abebe

My parents came to Canada as refugees in the late ’80s for better opportunities and to escape Ethiopia’s hellish dictatorship. Though I cannot know the extent of their struggles, I can speak of... Read more

Yasmeen Nematt Alla

When this Eid hits, we know we will spend it alone and at home and it’s fine. My family is safe and together and I am grateful for so much. We make chai and have Eid cookies and there is warmth h... Read more

Hiba Adel El Miari

البحث عن هوية لا وطن لي أُنتزعت منّي الهوّية وهمت في رحاب الأرض بلا مرجعيّة فهلاّ آويتني؟ هلاّ كنت لي أرضاً أز... Read more

L.S.

trigger warning for gender-based violence When it is quietand the lightsare out, I whisper“it was not your fault”I repeat itagainandagainuntilsometimesI believe it.Fake ituntilyou make itRig... Read more

Jo Spiegl

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Maddie Lychek

Summer 2025Maddie LychekSmoke & Mirrors, 2025Adaptation of wheat-pasted paper mural, dimensions variable.False acrylic nails, nail glue, oyster shell, and staples, as adapted for a wheat-pasted... Read more

Anonymous

From the fourteenth floor, you can see how much has changed down at King and Victoria. The skyline is filled with condos. But also, along the plateau of the train tracks: a patch of hill, a shoppin... Read more

Niara van Gaalen Seemab Zahra Yasmeen Nematt Alla Tomi A. Ryan Antooa

When the first wave of COVID-19 in March 2020 set off emergency orders in Ontario, police departments were given increased powers to enforce public health measures that called for self-isolation and … Read more

Jared Cubilla

Everyone is watching two men bleed in the square. i. They’re leaning on each other, heads on the other’s shoulders. The referee pushes them apart and the mouthpieces fly into the air. Granddad,... Read more

Shama Saleh

Colour: forever reside in my blood will keep me on holy ground colour that lived war inside of her. War: the goodbye kisses, tangible on cheek three years on nothing left to go back too. Hom... Read more

When Indigenous youth began to hold space at O:se Kenhionhata:tie, we knew this was the beginning of a movement that was going to bring about change. We had become a ceremonial gathering space for … Read more

Emily Arnott

It took her fourteen years to get back to a city. It wasn’t a big city, but hey, it had a bus. Refreshing Google Maps every minute, she prays that all her transfers connect. And there’s no stre... Read more

Niara van Gaalen

1 My sister is an athlete. She is also a Black teenager living in a townhouse complex. Not the kind where well-to-do young people pay condo fees, but the kind where the kitchen counters are lamin... Read more

Yvonne Tagoe

Textile · Yvonne Tagoe - Skin My skin is a beautiful gift not a sin But in this foreign land They don’t understand that my skin is my pride and joy In this foreign land far from home my skin is a... Read more

Marina Wada

As a kid who loved art time in elementary school, I’d get psyched and messy with vibrant colors, textures, and liquids. So much so that I barely noticed the glittery yellow, blue, and pink that s... Read more

The theme of “space” for this issue picks up a thread from issue i—the rapid pace of change in Waterloo Region that continues to transform our communities. We thought about the people and pla... Read more

DIJAH

CN: mention of blood, colonizers’ names, assimilation, Transatlantic captive trade, hostility to the land This soundscape is a collab between writers published in 'Space[s]’, elemental ancest... Read more

Tomi A.

Listen to Tomi read from this piece:Textile · Tomi A. - The Bitterness On Your Tongue I am listening to Nina Simone sing “Strange Fruit” and I am trying to sleep and all around me float visi... Read more

Jordan Wallace

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Shams Aldouha Alsayer

نهض طفلاً من بين الجثث و اجساد الجرحى انتبه انه فقد احد يداه فذهب يبحث عنها بين فوضى الاشلاء البشرية عله ي... Read more

Aaron T. Francis

I didn’t wake up one morning at the age of 14 and decide to become the architect of a payment avoidance scheme, defrauding our local transit commission of many thousands of dollars - it just sort... Read more

Jennifer Drews

(today) I cried, driving to the grocery store, for no reason, other than, I remembered (so when does it end?) When I am accomplished and successful, is that when I feel whole again? I desper... Read more

Janice Jo Lee

This poem is meant to be read out loud, with friends, while in transit.Persevere through construction, detours won’t trouble you Let these stories mark our new KW. A KW that connects us wi... Read more

Mélika Hashemi

Especially while in self-isolation, screens—whether windows or devices —have become a portal for connecting us with the world beyond our domestic walls. The screen that we choose determines how... Read more

Connor Chin-Quee

Looking down to the ground below, wind whips around my body. The gravity allures me, asking me to take the step forward, asking me to throw it all away. I am reassured; my heart gives way to apathy... Read more

Yasmeen Nematt Alla

Listen to Yasmeen talk about working with Textile on the Watershed Writers Podcast. I am leaving this house, moving an hour away, trying to feel like I am worth a beginning,my mother tells me I a... Read more

Bee Lee

Untitledmy mother is a pile of dust between two bricks unable to be condensed to a finer powder she sleeps in her ashtray next to the cigarettes that numb her I walk through the door just make a go... Read more

Dewe'igan Bearfoot Olivia Maine

For Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island, the pandemic deepened pre-existing inequities. The aid that settler-colonial systems offered did not account for (or value) the importance of physical and … Read more

Nur Al-Mouna

A time travel machine. It might sound futuristic, something science fiction writers spend pages and pages imagining. In fact, I have seen one. I will try to describe it for you, in case you have se... Read more

Ellie Anglin

Last summer, my wife and I rode our bikes together along the Cambridge to Paris rail trail—an eighteen kilometer venture alongside an out-of-use train track. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fitnes... Read more

Bashar Lulu Jabbour

The translation of the Arabic pieces in this magazine was a collaborative effort. Most often, the author wrote a rough English translation that I edited and later passed on for review with other na... Read more

Anonymous

It’s six am, I didn’t sleep, I got a dozen phone calls on my cell. She’s ready for treatment. “I’ll meet you at eight,” she said. So I made the phone calls. I fo... Read more

Nicole Smith

Elvis isn’t dead. He lives in Kitchener, Ontario, on a bench outside the grocery store. “One for the money!” I’m always tempted to say, as I dump a pathetic amount of change into his blis... Read more

Taylor Small

I From the terrace before six I see a train crossing, Three cars long⁠—“That’s it?” Passing in no time at all. I linger for the evening commuter; longer, heavier, humi... Read more

Nitica Sakharwade

Listen to Nitica read her poems:Textile · Nitica Sakharwade - Aaji / between my fascia hides griefAaji / between my fascia hides grief Textile · Nitica Sakharwade - Did... Read more

Saira Obaid

His smile is like a golden ray of sunshine, stripping back his mask to show his soul. The sound of his laugh—soft medley of strings. Quick flashes of white behind pink curtains, tasting of warm, ... Read more

Zehra Nawab

The day starts for the poor long before it does for the rich; for the ruled long before it does for the rulers; for the sun long before it does for the moon; for the Indians long before it does for... Read more

Eve Nyandwi

Every LRT car I hop into will visit Conestoga Station and Fairview Station, even if I don’t witness them. Even if I’ll never truly know for sure. I keep the volume in my headphones low enough t... Read more

Jordan Berhe

I view space as something positive and negative. A space is something we can connect and grow in, but too much space, or space applied in the wrong way, becomes isolating. I’ve spent a lot of time … Read more

Seemab Zahra

I see metal falling from the sky.I see metal soaring up high,and monsters rising from the ground,sucking up humans.You say 2020 has awakened all the sleeping monsters.I say these monsters were busy... Read more

Zain Bandali

trapped in a moving trainknee to knee with an archangel sun radiating off sandy complexionmanicured stubble lining jawline sharp and effortlesstaste of blood floods to my mouth Ya Khaaliq, Yo... Read more