rainwater lingers at the back of my tongue i lap at the soft storm clouds that linger after my mouthful and i am struck again by the entirety of time.
like ancestor stars that bless our bottled rituals, a decaying garden snake lingers in the vintage.
a peach pit a violet stem an oily chicken bone all whisper from their graves good fortune for the future.
church wine was always too sweet too cloying and too hopeful if i could get drunk on the homily and hymn to forget a moment the fires i would but they crackle in time— and i imagine one day the rift will swallow me up.
so i swallow— in the shine of you your vintage his vintage hers and theirs and the ghost of the garden snake slithers inside me. bids me hiss into the morning.
Tori Ashley Matos (they/them) is a queer, trans non-binary, and Afro-Taino poet, actor, and educator. Their work focuses on ancestors, queer love, Black liberation, the stickiness of marginalized and intersectional identity, and the compassionate decolonization of not only the self and the mind, but the Sacred Community and its ripple effect throughout the world. Follow them at @ToriAshleyMatos on Instagram and keep up with them at ToriAshleyMatos.com.