perhappened mag
issue 9: RAIN OR SHINE
take this
all of you
and drink
TORI ASHLEY MATOS
CW: alcohol mentions
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.
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.