Rita Mookerjee

Draglesque Prayer for the Gays and Theys Backstage at the Gig

                                                 For Anna

To call our time anything but dark would be a lie

but this poses no threat to us; this is nothing new.

Darkness is our currency the way that glitter is our currency 

the way that dollar bills are the sacrament the way we share 

sweat in communion, nipple tassels mapping our cycles 

of joy, or fury, of grief. In this temple, I bear witness to 

my siblings, my parents, my children & everything 

is holy. Our feathers, our mulberry silks commune with 

curvy scars, thick hips, & sore shoulders. This is the way. 

I am nothing more than a maenad in ecstasy over flesh 

& fanfare. I praise the whip of pants freed by snap buttons

I praise the jiggle of a buttcheek with the bass drop

Let us join hands in praise of the shablam, the milkshake, 

for every shield of leather & tulle & fishnet. My luminaries,

the night has always belonged to us & so we rage.

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Image by Cottonbro Studio from Pexels

Rita Mookerjee is an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Worcester State University. She is the winner of the 2023 Steel Toe Books Poetry Award and the author of False Offering (JackLeg Press). Her poems can be found in CALYX, Copper Nickel, Poet Lore, New Orleans Review, and the Offing.

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