Before the Horses
By Elizabeth Theriot
You stir waves into your coffee. Lately here
it is always midnight. I curl
against your momentary glasses
& want to say tie yourself to my mast,
warn you, say make Ogygia with handfuls of my clay.
You peel rind
from your lips & your face
splashes the ceramic rim.
You first arrived
an unpeeled grapefruit
& later a grapefruit peel. Remember
when you promised to teach
my fingers to unspool?
You ripened quickly, fermented
inside your cask.
Patroclus you are a hydra.
I have kissed so many of your necks.
About the Author:
Elizabeth Theriot is a queer Southern writer with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She earned her MFA from The University of Alabama and is currently writing a memoir about disability and desire. She is a Zoeglossia Fellow, with poems featured in their upcoming anthology, "WE ARE NOT YOUR METAPHOR," from Square & Rebels Press. Her chapbook "Dyers Woad" is forthcoming from dancing girl press. You can find her work in Yemassee, Barely South Review, Winter Tangerine, Ghost Proposal, Vagabond City, A VELVET GIANT, Tinderbox, and others.
About All Accounts:
All Accounts and Mixture is an annual online feature celebrating the work of LGBTQIA+ writers and artists. For this series, we seek work from authors who self-identify as "queer," while acknowledging that this designation is subjective and highly personal. Our goal is to provide a forum for writers whose voices might be mis- or underrepresented by the literary mainstream. Submissions are open from June 1 to July 1. Poetry, prose, visual art, reviews and interviews will all be considered. Visit Submittable for more details.