Before I knew you’d died, I was driving/backwoods dirt roads, just/outside the small town we used to share
Tag Archives: queer
Communion
There is a picture of me at four years old helping my grandmother to plant summer/squash in her backyard garden; the two of us kneeling in freshly tilled dirt, my small/hands full of seeds that she would take one-by-one, cupping a small mound of earth/to cover each of them.
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.
Mycelium
I am not a tree, ascendingto reach the heavens. Although I’m not quite grounded, I have been under-ground & longed for cooling waterin the dark–a thirst that made me reach toes throughmidnight soil, hopingto grasp another like me,tenderly.This vigilant earth obscures us when weinterlock ourselves & sprawl. Now & againour fruiting bodiesemerge: strange, dazzling, ever-expanding.
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”
Ancestry
**alternative version published in issue 3 of Stone Fruit Literary Magazine** I walk a thin and unkept road of rocks,of dirt & roots, of things forgotten—lost& found. Those afternoons spent unconcernedbeneath a patchwork quilt of leaves & sky& warm late light. My chants would float like smoke:she loves me not, she loves me. Now IContinue reading “Ancestry”
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi: Book Review
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi is a queer coming-of-age novel like no other, exploring trauma and its aftermath within an earthly body full of gods. The story centers on a young Nigerian girl named Ada, but is narrated largely by the Ogbanje—a swarm of Igbo spirits that come from the womb of the python deity AlaContinue reading “Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi: Book Review”
honey gaze 