Austin Bate-Agborsangaya 

etymology of the closet

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Image by Elena Smuseva from Pexels

Austin Bate-Agborsangaya is a Cameroonian-Taiwanese poet who daylights as a long-suffering STEM student and moonlights as an artist and creative. He is a sophomore at the Taipei American School--his work appears or is forthcoming at Tiger Moth Review, Driftwood Press, the Weight Journal, and elsewhere.

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how do you listen for footsteps?

pretty boy / don’t turn on the light / they’ll unveil us / here in our strange country / with no flag still I pledge allegiance / running your collarbone / tastes like salt and daring-to-be / our holy palmers’ kiss / smuggling between our skin / key in one hand / knife in the other / ‘cause we live wild, boy / two outlaws / you and I / here in the closet / from closing / from Latinate claudere / meaning to shut / the origin of the word is / hinge-logic / the theology of a latch / your chest going still mid-breath / are you alone? / I tell you / yes / and mean / I have locked every witness outside my skin / I have dragged the world’s eyes out by the collar and / slammed the door / my secrecy of freedom / our longing Midas-touched / gold on every inch of you / hear the knocking at the entrance / their fingers at our throats / our shared amen / bodies hanging in parallel with the shirts / wow, pretty boy / the awe of you is a problem I keep choosing / they say this is God’s country / so bless me / with a wet mouth / make it holy / won’t you / make it shut up.    

the closet is not an and / it is / an elsewhere.