[Issue #7] Poems in the Buff - Haiku for Pride

resting in power

Resting in Power, 2021

Tyianna Alexander
Chicago, IL - January 6th

faun spots fade
into fields of tasseled wheat.
summer winds bring the harvest.

Samuel Edmund Damián Valentín
Trujillo Alto, PR - January 9th

green scales
in open sun
shimmer

blur
in the shade
of an eagle

Bianca “Muffin” Bankz
Altanta, GA - January 17th

crimson maple leaves
pool
under broken limbs

Dominique Jackson
Jackson, MS - January 25th

a song in last stanza.
an ink wet orca
on the sand.

Fifty Bandz
Baton Rouge, LA - January 28th

cicada
morning songs
echo
between oaks

Alexus Braxton
Miami, FL - February 4th

brittle finger bones
reap bluebonnets
from beneath the concrete

Chyna Carrillo
New Wilmington, PA - February 18th

a threshold
releasing breath
as you finish crossing

Jasmine Cannady & Jeffrey “JJ” Bright
Ambridge, PA - February 22nd

coastlines
making carpenters
of tides.

Jenna Franks
Jacksonville, NC - February 24th

dead leaves
blanketing the grass.
confetti in the gutter.

Future resting
Everywhere

summer sunset.
freckles shining
atop
smiles.

The Naked Stuff

It’s Pride Month, and as a quiet gay I’ve decided to celebrate the lives of my fellow trans siblings by sharing a small collection of haiku dedicated to those killed so far in 2021. This list of folks actually ends in February, so it is sadly much longer now. And while this exercise is a tad depressing, I like the idea of freezing small moments in time, the way a haiku does, as a moment of silence for someone. A poem the length of a single breath has a weight to it I can’t quite explain.

Here are the hard-worked drafts of these haiku. Some may be overworked. Worked to death, for lack of a better word. My initial idea for this group of poems was to paint small pictures of the scenes where each person was found dead - but that proved to be too traumatic. I have to remind myself, like a lot of marginalized artists, that I’m not obligated to make art showcasing my pain as a trans person, and that I don’t need to suffer to create it. Some of the poems are still sad, but I let them stand, as they’re beautiful in their own way.

On the subject of haiku, you may be wondering why these poems don’t adhere to the 5-7-5 rule we’re all taught in middle school English classes. That’s explained well here:

“As the form has evolved, many of its regular traits—including its famous syllabic pattern—have been routinely broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment.” -Poets.org