Alex Carrigan
How We Revel
After Jamie Etheridge's "Epithet"
But you can't comprehend how we revel in the messy contours of our existence
when you can't even comprehend how you contribute to the messiness.
You contribute to the messiness every time you try to talk louder than us,
try to justify your scorn, try to make us feel shame in the shameless.
The shameless way we act only happened once we loosened our collars
and belt buckles, when we decided 11 was no longer the highest volume level.
The highest volume level we reached wasn't even in how we spoke or sang,
but in how we moved our arms and legs, how we hugged and kissed.
We hugged and kissed despite the yardstick you tried to put between us,
for you couldn't even comprehend the nerve we had to press our chests close together.
Our chests were close together while you only kept air as your company,
resigned to live with a wide chalk circle around your lonely self.
Your lonely self will wash away with the next torrent of rain, thus
you can't comprehend how we revel in the messy contours of our existence.
Bio
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author
of Now Let's Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul's Drag Race Twitter Poetry (Querencia Press, 2023) and
May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).
He has appeared in The Broadkill Review, Sage Cigarettes, Barrelhouse, Fifth Wheel Press, Cutbow Quarterly,
and more. Visit
carriganak.wordpress.com
or follow him on Twitter
@carriganak for more info.