by heather c. lou

what does it mean to be an earth dragon?

keep poking and you will

quickly learn

about the grounded, steady, cutting

swiftness of my strike

when provoked that is

conveyed in a glare

and sharp words

that will make you regret your

every entitled move

before it even

bubbles from your consciousness

Illustration by Shyama R. Kuver

About The Author
Heather C. Lou, m.ed. (she/her/hers) is an angry gemini earth dragon, multiracial, asian, queer, cisgender, womxn of color artist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. her mixed media pieces include watercolor, acrylic, gold paint pen, oil pastel, radical love, & hope. each piece comments on the intersections of her racial, gender, & sexual identities, as they continue to shift and develop in complexity each day. her art is a form of healing, transformation, and liberation, rooted in womxnism and gender equity through a racialized borderland lens.

heather works in education as an administrator. in her spare time, heather loves ogling at puppies, playing with olive bear (her cat), making glitter mason jar snow globes for self-care, playing her ukulele, and spending time with her loving partner.  find heather’s creations at: etsy.com/shop/hclouART

About the Artist
Shyama R. Kuver (she/her/herself) is a radiant introvert. tender and fierce, she is a queer Indo-Fijian woman born and raised in San Francisco, California, now living and learning in Washington, DC. she is a self- and community-taught artist whose work focuses on our spiritual connectedness to each other and to other worlds – past, present, and future. her art explores nature, futurism, marginalization, decolonization, activism, politics and society, spirituality and prayer, self-love, and community. her passion and purpose is to depict the world of the soul in graphite and ink and to reflect the diverse and conflicting realities of the mind and spirit. priority: to believe in the power of love and playfulness, to encourage others to pursue their passions, and to always resist erasure.

Find Shyama’s creations at: www.heartovercrown.com I instagram: @heartovercrown