Love Poem to June
After Paul Monette
if every window filled with light it would refract
ten thousand rainbows at least twelve would hit
you and if i say you are beautiful in this light
you would say this is your light the only one
you want to be seen in blue and purple pink
strawberry moon finds you dreaming i want to
know what you dream of on the lonely nights
when there are no rainbows look here are the
violets here are the green carnations here’s dorothy
coming home from work yellow heels red eye
shadow close enough to kiss but you’ve shown me
i can have more than snippets of lightning you’ve
shown me proof i exist even when i look in the mirror
and see only myself in past tense i never stop looking for
you come come june you know what you do to me
when you leave i never doubt myself until you
go home has so many doors closed to me but you
build me a new room with no lock you look so beautiful
in certain lights if i call you beautiful i have to
call myself beautiful i take you home june and
hold your beating body to mine until we are both
solid and sure we will still be here tomorrow
Freya Cook (she/her) is currently studying English Literature at Durham University. She was commended as a top 100 poet in Foyles Young Poetry competition, was commended in the Young Poets’ Keats Challenge, and has been published in The Gentian, Celestite and Granny’s Tea Poetry Magazine. Find her on Twitter at @fjcookie1.
Community: A manifesto
It takes a village
Burn it down and rebuild
Run away
Find your people
Just to feel the warmth
Amii Griffith is a multidisciplinary queer working class writer of colour. She won the Lewisham, London Borough of Culture 2022 Your Words Your Lyrics Your Story spoken word competition and was published in Middleground Magazine for writers of mixed heritage.
The Mollusc Dimension is a queer, trans, British-born Chinese multidisciplinary, project-based artist and musician. Having created 20+ zines, his autobiographical, debut comic book, “The Weird & Wonderful Surviveries of Squid Horse” launches in October 2024. Say hi @SquidHorseComics @TheMolluscDimension