When you left this world, I was
driving back roads that coiled
through pine-shadow & crooked/fenceline
Category Archives: tender
Sanctuary
Agatha scrapes open the rusting backyard gate, and a chorus of yips erupts from the inside of the bungalow. The troops emerge from the homemade dog flap in the back door; thirteen chihuahuas, dachshunds, and small mutts veer through the maze of vinca tendrils and tiger lilies to reach her as she walks up the thin path.
“Goddamn slimy devil spawn that girl is!” Agatha’s wrathful smoker’s voice rasps through the open kitchen window. “The audacity to try something this shifty, I just can’t fathom it.”
Point of Impact
Before I knew you’d died, I was driving/backwoods dirt roads, just/outside the small town we used to share
Communion
At four, I knelt in the garden
beside my grandmother, hands full
of seed, as she covered them one
by one with dark, loamy soil. This
is how I learned devotion.
Chrysalis
A clump of five boys Devan’s age sat in the back row closest the emergency exit. Devan gave a little nod and a wave to one of them, a gangly boy with blonde locks that were much longer than the other boys’ hair. Even from the length of the bus, Devan could see an undiscovered galaxy of copper freckles pepper his cheekbones.
Scavenger
My dog sees it first,/her sleek silhouette/stiff & still &/bristled at the scent.
Home-Grown Serotonin
This year I did something I never thought I’d do: I went off my medication for my depression and anxiety…
Mycelium
I am not a tree, ascending/
to reach the heavens./Although I’m not quite grounded
BULB:
a found object sculpture on liminality and queer identity The elements present in this piece are: a house-shaped shadow box, soil, sea glass, dried flora, clothes hangers, space-patterned silk pillowcase, and yarn. I wanted the finished project to resemble a plant bulb emerging, with dual profiles coming out of it. I have hidden myself, andContinue reading “BULB:”
Pride & Joy
I’m having a hard time feeling the same level of pride and euphoria I usually feel during the beloved month of June. This is my first Pride month as a married queer person and the feeling really is bittersweet. I think about my younger self, before I was out of the closet, never dreaming thatContinue reading “Pride & Joy”
honey gaze 