lets build a home –

an all-trunk treehouse.

trade the twigs for the dolls 

& together delight in our thelarche.

rufous tongue by tongue

you taught us all

to speak in circles

& now i cant stop 

thinking about the orioles:

icterus turmalis. turnagra tanagra.

oriolus isabellae.

we are hardly back from that night

& already unnamed

but at the threshold of our kiss.

when my thumb brushes your ilium

& i refract against you 

the luer-lok in my beak

our love come intramuscular.

when you translate me back into myself.

you me & the dolls 

holding hands & learning to breathe E

– then. only then. but then

for mathilda cullen, with a line from galway kinnell

sterling-elizabeth arcadia (she/they) is a trans poet and diy tattooer in washington dc, where she watches birds and cares for her cats. she is currently working on a chapbook of queer ekphrastic love poems based on her friends’ instagram posts. her work has been published in Stone of Madness Press, Fuck Your Dreams Zine, Rejection Letters, the lickety~split, and DEAR Poetry Journal. you can find her on twitter @flower_zaddy