two texts
I.
both of my legs are bruised and it has me thinking about you. the blue-green-yellow-red hues. the rainbow between us. the rainbow between us
i think about your clumsy, about your 11-something cats & your late grandmother (like mine)
i think about the all-female brooklyn brass brand we saw, in prospect park. i think about when i got to meet your wife & didnt know what to say, so i commented on her haircut. how i miss you. how i love you
II.
hey bb, been thinking about you,
praying to bb trans gay jesus for you,
etc, etc
ive loved you longer than a year now
& still it stings, thinking about you
alone & cold, in that heartless chicago
so when i pray to bb trans gay jesus heres what i say:
may mathilda be safe. may mathilda be a bird.
may mathilda be called a faggot by her friends at the next transsexual brooklyn orgy
i would top a twink to see you stay warm this year
sterling-elizabeth arcadia (she/they) is a Best of the Net winning and Pushcart Prize nominated trans poet, diy tattooer, and lover of birds, cats, and her friends, living in Philadelphia. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in venues including Delicate Friend, HAD, New Delta Review, beestung, and Verse of April. Her debut chapbook, Heaven, Ekphrasis, is available now from Kith Books.