A. Jenson

The Ode

so still that I could
see the sunlight on my
eyelash tips and the ripples
of heat between my nose
and the ceiling

so quiet that I could
hear myself in my perfection

I have never, not once asked
you to leave because there’s
something wrong with you
or because there’s something
wrong with me

it’s only that I cannot see
the heat in the room
or hear my blood move any other way

Birthday

I have watched bones yellow
and hair begin to thin
I’ve been present for the scarring of yards of this skin
I’ve felt breaking pains, swelling pains, heart-ache pains, pleasure
and teased at the edges of a memory shroud
I’m not afraid
I’m not afraid
This is where I’m meant to be
These cracking sounds inside
are gallant drums in my parade

A. Jenson is a trans/non-binary writer, artist, and farmer whose most recent works appear in 2023/24 issues of Broken Antler Quarterly, Ouch! Collective, Swim Press, Pile Press, The Bitchin Kitsch, The Door Is A Jar, and Thimble Literary Magazine. When they aren’t pruning apple trees or training up the next generation of queer farmers, they’re hard at work revising a fiction manuscript.