Little moon, little hilltop
of the throat, little bloom—
orchids petalled white,
night-breeze like a silk dress.
The queen peacock is fast
asleep. Holes
in the grass where crickets
should be, but there are fireflies,
star-flecks, a red, teeming
planet. Keep it far. Keep it
quiet. Keep mouth closed
so the sun never rises. Light,
with its violent
hands, can do so much
damage—
like growth, the freedom
to roam, the pink sheep
finally able to graze,
the queen peacock
awake, ready to rule.
Grant Chemidlin is a queer poet, and currently, an MFA candidate at Antioch University Los Angeles. He is the author of the chapbook New in Town (Bottlecap Press, 2022) and the illustrated collection He Felt Unwell (So He Wrote This). His second collection of poems What We Lost in the Swamp will be published by Central Avenue Publishing in 2023. Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Quarterly West, Iron Horse Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Saranac Review, among others.
