sterling-elizabeth arcadia

facesitting poem

  —after “Life: A Draft” by Sommer Browning

fuck sports. specifically

fuck wicked fit athletics &

fuck freshman composition, even though it, in theory, pays my bills

fuck my bills

fuck exercise

fuck fucking, but not fuck cunnilingus, fucking sit on my face

have you seen joker? fuck joker. personally i’m a fan of the people’s joker even though i’ve

never seen it. let me fuck nonbinary joker. but actually don’t let me fuck anyone anymore

fuck anymore 

fuck fox news

fuck bodycon dresses, for me specifically

fuck work 

fuck unemployment

fuck coffee

fuck the impermanence of life

fuck cleaning

fuck the feeling of weightlesness you get at the apex of a roller coaster

fuck “boy movies” / “girl movies” 

fuck writing in pencil

after sommer browning

even our friends fossilize. now 

the pile of strapless

flip-flops grows. now

the bruised green possibility 

falls. labor licks

its lips, admits 

no obligations. if the lesser fish

eat bonito flakes, and the others,

algae, the whole food pyramid

inverts. keeps its new secrets

to itself. our lesbian landlord knocks

on our window. demands a piece

of our chocolate birthday cake. in the sky,

the sun shines on. the tornado 

sirens are broken. the wind-up

repairman is also broken. 

 ____

Statement of HomagE

I was first introduced to Sommer Browning’s work by a beloved poetry teacher, Stephanie Cawley. When I came to Sommer’s Good Actors, I already knew that I prized humor in poetry, but Sommer’s poems offered a new slant, a kind of matter of fact humor that employs not only quirky juxtapositions, but also, somehow, surprise, while still cohering in a deeper way. My poem “facesitting poem” came from a prompt in Stephanie’s class in response to Sommer’s poem “Life: A Draft.” The last few weeks, in the hospital, Sommer’s debut full length, Either Way I’m Celebrating, was one of a few books I had with me, and, being in the hospital, needing humor, was the first one I turned to. My poem “after sommer browning,” written in the hospital, takes a page from Sommer’s imaginative juxtapositions. Sommer’s poetry is excellent company during hard times.

Sommer Browning

(Bio from her website)

Sommer Browning is a poet. She also writes about art, tells jokes, draws comics, makes videos, creates installations, and hosts, performs & curates things.

 ____ 

aubade with ECT

—after “Nocturne with Withdrawal from SSRIs” by James O’Leary

“the record” is something like a cache of old film reels

found under a haybale in a drafty barn, 

several already lost to fire, others, missing their audio tracks,

the frames themselves, spliced together, partially

painted over. “the record” has always been

a kind of fiction, no closer to any objective

“truth,” than, say, a contemporary abstract painting.

i’ve been considering surrendering my own archive

to the warmth of the fire. how there are memories

i yearn to forget. internal narratives i wish i never wrote.

what will someone pick from this brain once i’m gone

from it. what will they find of mine in the landfill.

____

Statement of HomagE

When I first met James O’Leary, in a workshop we took with torrin a. greathouse in 2021, I was struck by their ability to make the ordinary and concrete shine in language. In the years since that workshop, James has become a beloved friend, in both life and writing. “aubade with ECT” references the title of one of the poems James brought to that workshop, “Nocturne with Withdrawal from SSRIs,” and tries to emulate James’s skill with making language beautiful.

James O’Leary

James O’Leary is a queer poet and educator from Arizona. Their work has been nominated for the Best New Poets, Best of the Net, & Pushcart Prize anthologies, & has appeared or is forthcoming in such journals as Booth, Foglifter, The Kenyon Review, Poet Lore, & more. James holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, serves as Assistant Poetry Editor for ANMLY, & is currently working on their first full-length poetry manuscript. For a time, James tried the name Willow James Claire. They live in southern California.

 ____

“old! bird! fertile!”

—after Sarah Clark

i had two cliff swallows

and a halo tattooed on my head

last friday february 14th, my psych ward

anniversary with heather. i don’t trust people

who call women “females” or other 

pejorative labels. i can’t tell how round

my halo is because my head is not

flat. as far as i’m concerned it’s impossible

to become “not trans” for a number of reasons

but primarily because babies have no sense

of gender. my friend in new york

tattooed a hawk-angel on my back with eyes

everywhere. i go to philly occasionally though

i don’t live there anymore. because i suggested i might

stay, i got dumped, then moved to connecticut

anyway. there’s barely anyone in new england

who i trust to tattoo a bird on me. when i voted in philly

i wrote a poem about my ex knocking me up

with their strap. neither of us could’ve made it

happen, but they wanted a child without pregnancy and i 

wanted to get pregnant without having to raise a child.

look, it may have been out of our hands, but that

doesn’t mean “impossible.” my most mysterious friend

posted a news story about a 74 year old bird still

being fertile. i think i just need a little magic 

and a used iud, more feathers.

 ____

Statement of Homage

Sarah Clark is an incredibly important part of my poetry community. Said differently, there are few venues I’ve been prouder to place my work in than the ones Sarah edits. They are always working to make space for marginalized poets and are a warm and gentle editor—a joy and privilege to have worked with. Sarah is not only an important poet and editor, but also, as I have told them before, a deeply talented and funny poster on blue sky. This poem was inspired by a post Sarah made with the words “old! bird! fertile!” and a link to a news story about the world’s oldest known bird successfully hatching a chick this year.

Sarah Clark

Sarah Clark is a mad crip genderfuck two-spirit enrolled Nanticoke editor, writer, and cultural consultant. They are Editor-in-Chief and Poetry Editor at ANMLY, EIC of beestung, EIC at ALOCASIA: a queer plant-based magazine, Co-Editor of The Queer Movement Anthology (Seagull Books, 2024) and the Bettering American Poetry series, and a member of the Board of Directors at Sundress Press.

 ____