Dare Williams
Image by Engin_Akyurt on Pixabay
A 2019 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, Dare Williams (he/they) is a Queer HIV-positive poet, artist, rooted in Southern California. He has received support for his work from John Ashbury Home School, The Frost Place, Breadloaf and Tin House. He was the co-curator of the West Hollywood Literature Festival 2021. Dare’s poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and Best American Poets 2021. His work has been anthologized in Redshift 5 by Arroyo Secco Press and is featured in THRUSH, The Shore, Exposition Review, Night Heron Barks, Cultural Weekly, Altadena Review and elsewhere. He is at work on his debut poetry collection. Follow him on Twitter/IG (@Dare_Williams13) and on his website (www.darewilliams.com).
Blue in Green
Mother, you don’t know the sound of a good horn
the way it slices through night with its groan,
how it spills through the city in search of a partner.
You scuff across the kitchen with heavy feet,
pierce your dinner with a fork. Miles away I am
sick and sweaty, held by a leash being led
through the tar of this town. I’m fumbling for a baggy
and a key. It’s not supposed to be like this. I am
an irreplaceable shade of twilight, I am weighted.
Never have I seen your face bend the way
a blue note does when I arrive at the door.
A crackle in the vinyl, weathered and out of tune,
too far gone to call in, too close to say goodbye. I ring
the bell, I say I love you; I get paid. This is our little dance.
©2021 West Trade Review
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