// The doctor explains the significance of color while we await the results:
white — communication, sex /
the pleats in a white curtain between two hospital beds
orange — speech, language /
the orange phone mounted on my grandmother’s kitchen wall
blue — movement, travel /
a blue tractor in a green field on a glossy postcard
red — thought, persistence /
a red journal in an open backpack propped on the seat of a train
white — communication, sex /
the pleats in a white curtain between two hospital beds
orange — speech, language /
the orange phone mounted on my grandmother’s kitchen wall
blue — movement, travel /
a blue tractor in a green field on a glossy postcard
red — thought, persistence /
a red journal in an open backpack propped on the seat of a train
//
I was always so glad I had a bright journal.
I was so worried I would lose it. /
her lap full of papers, an edifice in looseleaf
How far have you gone? /
shoving the whole structure into her backpack
as the train pulls into the station
and the conductor sways up the aisle
I was so worried I would lose it. /
her lap full of papers, an edifice in looseleaf
How far have you gone? /
shoving the whole structure into her backpack
as the train pulls into the station
and the conductor sways up the aisle
Far, I think. /
black rocks rimed with ice, a landscape of cyanotypes
edging the chasm where two continents pull apart
black rocks rimed with ice, a landscape of cyanotypes
edging the chasm where two continents pull apart
And where are you trying to get back to? /
an orange cat on a fog-glutted fence
a douglas fir fractaling the sky
an orange cat on a fog-glutted fence
a douglas fir fractaling the sky
I’d like to get back to being lost. /
headphones shedding beads of black foam
scotch broom and black-eyed susans yellowing the roadside
headphones shedding beads of black foam
scotch broom and black-eyed susans yellowing the roadside
We understand each other completely.
Are you happy to have a sister finally? /
Are you happy to have a sister finally? /
I have always had a sister. /
one by blood, one by choice
and now this one, this
stranger, the seam between our worlds.
one by blood, one by choice
and now this one, this
stranger, the seam between our worlds.
Leila Walker is a queer New Yorker living in Queens. She is also an assistant professor and digital scholarship librarian at Queens College.