Poetry

image of hands coming together

Water and Rocks

 

I stumble through life like a dehydration-addled ascetic in a desert during the apocalypse

image of roses in vases

Budding Rose

In the quiet nights of winter 
The air sighs with an icy chill 

Red ink pen

Seven People You Already Know

Monday grips a pen
Neurotic scribbles fill a blank page

image of rainbow pattern

Queer Utopia

You just are, no need to play a part

Names and Pronouns and Sexuality

Can change as easily as the seasons 

It is accepted and no less normal

lollipop

An Elephant?

One bite at a time 
my mother says as it sits there 
in my kitchen 
blowing dish-soap bubbles 
through its pool-noodle nose.

Image of the progress flag

My First Pride

It fills my body 
Fills my body so full of light 
I am almost bursting at the seams with 
Joy so infectious I cannot avoid it if I wanted to

image of reflected faces

Self-Portrait

I can’t bear
To draw self-portraits of myself.
I don’t trust mirrors
And I don’t trust my eyes.

Image of Miriella Jiffar

The Indelible and Invisible 

Aethiopia, Abyssinia, Askum, Kush
All names thrown around by history books, by scholars 
Attempting to intellectualize, rationalize, standardize 
the place my parents call home 

Image of two hands reaching out for each other

Holy Ghost

I blame you for everything –
I blame myself for even more.
I’m dumb and stubborn; you, careless.

Image of a hand clutching purple sheets

Sheets

His scent envelops
swallowing all that is mine