7 February, 2023
splice the remaining fragments smell of vodka, basement room filled with debris, sharp
pull of hands zippers teethed apart with drunken care
what were we supposed to trust
but collapsed filaments?
we embraced teenage stupidity left ourselves a sticky residue queer
shame
D. Keali‘i MacKenzie is the author of the chapbook From Hunger to Prayer (Silver Needle Press). A queer poet of Kanaka Maoli, European, and Chinese descent; his work appears in or is forthcoming from: Indigenous Pacific Islander Eco-Literatures, homology lit, Fahmidan Journal, foglifter, and The Operating System Experimental Speculative Poetics. A past member of the Worcester Poetry Slam Team. He received an MA in Pacific Islands Studies, and an MLISc, from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.