(sonnet)
takes what fleshtones from our
kelp & ink split on dark
eyes & washed in the hers
-tory of desiring.
calves
solo bare ramparts
: raw metropole’s foreclosures,
greyed.
if yous compelled
by directives & gives
up on queer love ,
in these next night returns
(or jet to it, prosper!)
onto our declining hands
cold as cuts the astronomical light
… freeze in the dream stock , slid beyond best & taken freely to tongues,, this larder open to all who would stum -ble, invitation to feast. we took road beside the hill, regency cut-off spoke its news to all encountered, evening light takes the day’s heat edge, & round⎯ cut to glass walkway, footfall quell the distance of the police barricade , leith,, tarmac, armour, slow smoke up -surge scene on mute / more talk with the passing, discern this below : you, who I do not yet know bejewelled , tall juxt. to dark hair the light hits heels yours as the police charge the barricade beneath, smoke dou- sing scene / fear for the glass in the horse charge. this canteen belonging to students,, dive into lift / though i block departure to give/ask a name, voices dropped. door crash against my frame, dark a red jacket. take turn on these mechanics, liberating what foods for the flesh [15 july 18]
Nat Raha is a poet, musician and trans / queer activist-scholar, living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is the author of numerous pamphlets and three collections of poetry: of sirens, body & faultlines (Boiler House Press, 2018), countersonnets (Contraband Books, 2013), and Octet (Veer Books, 2010). Her work has been translated into German, Greek, Portuguese and Spanish. Nat has a PhD in queer Marxism and contemporary poetry from the University of Sussex, as is a postdoctoral researcher on the ‘Cruising the 70s: Unearthing Pre-HIV/AIDS Queer Sexual Cultures’ research project at the Edinburgh College of Art. She is the co-editor of Radical Transfeminism zine.
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