Poetry | ‘Cairn’ & ‘Wait’ by Robert Beveridge | LGBTQ+ (Vol I) – Issue 35

CAIRN

I have stacked

here for you

a mound of berries

a pyramid almost

raspberries black

cherries blueberries

all in wait 

for your tongue

your lips

the feel of your teeth

on my finger

as you take

each berry

into your mouth


WAIT

a red ant sits

on the second hand

before, the phone

jumped, a spider

I couldn’t keep still

Now it lies dormant,

a tired puppy

the window freezes cracks

yet does not shatter

I hold a lead pipe

for that sort of thing

and when the phone rings

it is always not you


pronouns: he/him
I identify as QUILTBAG (bi/pan), neurodivergent (anxiety requiring multiple hospitalizations/GAD/SAD/depression/suspected by a number of mental health professionals of being on the autism spectrum but not tested because “the tests are expensive and you’re too old for the treatment methodologies to do anything”), and disabled (arthritis since 1992, now walking with a cane over 90% of the time/chronic bloodborne cellulitis resulting in multiple multi-week hospitalizations/heart attack). [New! Improved! Now officially listed as disabled by the U.S. government as of 3Mar2020!] Now fall into the “older” category (50+). Adopted and entirely unfamiliar with my (birth) family history.

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