Three poems by jacklyn henry

inconsequential

he types: so, you’re trans? and try to think of something clever but i am quite yet a stereotype he types: wanna cam? and i wonder why i spend any time on line sometimes loneliness leads you to gay chats just as sobriety can make you stop i smile to myself as i cut another line methamphetamine is my co-pilot masturbation my religion i turn on the cam and shyly say, hello

broken
we all have needs
a kiss, a touch
an embrace
something more
than forced innocence
before a primal scream

i hide in painted shadows
deep in expansive closets
waiting for morning
the damning light of day

and when it becomes
more than i can hold
i break, and bend before
a man, accept his moral
credulity with each
cloying thrust

uninterrupted
i look up normal
and know
i am not it

my cock tells one story
my heart another

when i lay in his arms
when i am vulnerable
to his desire
i know my truth

when i roar
the wild
of amerika

i no longer
know anything

jacklyn henry (They/them)
j henry is a queer writer surviving the wilds of the high desert while living in the dark shadows of a‭ ‬conformist’s closet‭. ‬when pushing back at every turn‭, ‬j has recent works accepted at‭ ‬Ariel Chart‭, ‬Literary Yard‭, ‬Pure Slush‭, ‬SCAB‭, ‬13‭ ‬Myna Birds‭, ‬and elsewhere‭. ‬a recent poetic memoir‭, ‬DRIVING W/CRAZY‭,‬‭ ‬is now available from‭ ‬punkhostagepress.com‭. ‬for more‭, ‬please go to‭ ‬jackhenry.wordpress.com‭.‬