when day fades into night
and you’re lost in a sea of black-leather jackets
you open your mouth to scream
and only air comes out

My name was never Mary. There was no stained glass in the hospital.

Hey, operator. You having a good night?

I wish I was a flower. I wish people gave me meaning, and gave me to loved ones. I wish I was treasured. Yet, I am a person. I am a human.

With a grand total of two girlfriends under my belt, I fully embraced my foremother Sappho. Quietly, and out of my parents’ sight, I had become a baby dyke. The silent e turns the vowel long: dīk.

So much in this house is blue. I never liked the color
but have married someone who speaks sky and carried
an ocean inside her once, and wishes to carry another
owing to her thirst to nurture.