some oil-slicked and some sky-bright
by Sarena Brown
we paint our friends in rainbows
we want to be pretti
we pluck petals that don’t serve us
we don’t want to be beautiful
and others weave brush and leaves together
to become something all their own
pretty boy —> pretti boi
we call ourselves whatever we want
and boy do we want
Sarena Brown (they/them) is a sick and Mad artist who makes work to feel through gender feelings, queer belonging, and disability. In addition to earning their MFA in Poetry from UMass Amherst, Sarena is a Dreamyard fellow, a Seventh Wave Narrative Shifts Fellow, and a Sista Uprising grant recipient. They are likely crying. You can find Sarena’s work in Grist Journal, Night Coffee, substack, and elsewhere.