this sticky summer night is a beet stain –
let me paint your skin & clear my schedule,
sit in my room until you call me back.
I imagine you struggling with a jar
of marinara sauce in your kitchen –
let me take it. here, I’m haunted by prayers
before dinner & boyfriends from high school.
I wish I had known enough to kiss you
backstage, under the bridge, inside the empty
church. the cathedrals are closed. I bake bread
on Sundays now. I buy stamps & I grow
sunflowers. I think about the word wife.
the phone numbers of dead people are re-
assigned. I spend the rest of the day calling.
GILLIAN EBERSOLE is a dancer and writer who explores the embodied experience of queerness in her poetry and choreography. A member of the Class of 2020, she graduated from Loyola Marymount University Summa Cum Laude with a dual degree in English and Dance. In particular, her work explores queerness in relation to the structures of conservative religious upbringing. Gillian currently works for Colorado Ballet’s Department of Education and writes for various dance publications. She believes in yellow bedrooms, sunset dances, and sitting in coffeeshops.
