“In the Event That You Find This” by Catherine Abbey Hodges
“Try to remember the actual
moon is never less than full.
The evening cashier has a secret
sorrow and plans for the weekend.”
“In Which We’re the Mycelium” by Adrie Rose
“In these years of unrelenting
loss, I have practiced restoration
with you.”
“Letter to a Cousin” by Eileen Pettycrew
“Dear eyes
like breaking stars,
some days I hear your voice
in the trees, some nights
I send you half my dreams.”
“Peccadilloes” and “Missing Sleep” by Jane Ann Fuller
“Sometimes death
takes you by the throat, like burning leaves choke
and ochre light hangs thick as draperies across your living
room window where a slice of sky slips through
to remind you get outside, take a walk, breathe.”
“He Thought” by B. Fulton Jennes
“I thought it was just opening, he says. I thought
the petals were just unfurling.”
“My Sweetheart Hates to Shop, But This Is My Fantasy” by Janlori Goldman
“Dress you
as you prefer, in men’s clothes—no rush
or pressure, pleasure in the long look,
the urge for color, then touch—”
“Night Swimming” by Doris Lynch
“Tonight, I am going to push
the Susquehanna away with my body,
ignore the waning moon’s fractioning
of light.”
“Autumn Again” by Catherine Abbey Hodges
“That afternoon, I pretended
to be a cat—tabby, kinked tail.
And the finches behaved
accordingly.”
“Slumber Party” by Sara Burge
“Still awake believing our silence might leave us,
desperately needing to make ourselves heard,
every girl told a story before parents came for us.”
Sarah Stern’s Review of Frida’s Boots by Dana Robbins
“Frida’s Boots beats too with life and determination. In many of Robbins’ poems there is an appreciation for the moment at hand, the pleasure in the everyday experiences, and the heightened awareness that it is all temporary.”
“Call Me” by Eileen Pettycrew
“I imagined us drinking tea
sugared with honesty,
laughing till we turned soft
as fallen apples.”
“Why I Still Haven’t Written About the Rape” by Adrie Rose
“Always, I begin
with nothing and too much
to say.”
“Story Ending in a Heap of Boards” by Catherine Abbey Hodges
“Some days
almost everything’s about sex, and maybe
this as well: groan of old boards, joists
and beams remembering, music
of breaking glass.”
Workshop with Jane Belinda: The Queer Body Through the Work of Audre Lorde and Others
The third entry in the Writing Queer Joy Workshop, an online series presented by CALYX Press.