Don't Call Us Dead: Poems

by Danez Smith

take your God back. though his songs are beautiful, his miracles are inconsistent.

many stories about queerness are about shame

was he the rain & you the ark, kid? did he make a new sea to miss you, kid? were you a fish swimming in his grief, kid? did you float?

All i Desire Surrenders Have i no Venom?

with vultures grazing my veins. me: dead lion who keeps dying. him: flies who won’t leave my blood alone. the devil

i’m learning to become all the space i need.