A Change Is Coming
I watch men
plunge fingers in mouths
and think
you should never unbury the dead.
I watch men
unearth desires and fear
my depths are nothing but a wasteland.
I imagine:
You say it’s okay.
We unbutton my pants, though
my hands follow yours.
I close my eyes.
Wish on a night sky black.
Feel a coldness
a prodding
the drowning under
a creak of bones.
Resurface
in one great breath
with silver ribbons
commemorating our war.
In the bed of our ruins
a boy once lost stands
with a skull erupting
blue iridescent butterflies.
Richard Carey lives on Nantucket, Massachusetts. He came out as gay five months ago on his twenty-third birthday.