Green, how I desire you, green.
-Federico Garcia Lorca
The garden is green, muted tones of lilac.
I rush to your side. I hold your hands.
Then I hold your ribs. Back & forth, we rock.
The garden is green, maleficent lips. Back & forth, sea-blue, your lips, large ship, kiss me. You sway back & forth, the common tongue of brotherhood.
Someone, for the second time, says I only love white men.
& for the second time, my body finds a crack, pushes wider, makes a crevice. The ships are above our heads.
In the garden, you have hair
because I do not. Something for me to play with.
In the garden, you are brown. You are brown. We are brown.
The garden is green - no, emerald.
The garden, our bodies entwined with rope. The cool rain filling up our throats, moans of weather.
Say I love you. Say anything at all. Say the cool rain is a reminder, the simple tool of god.
The garden is our prize.
The green garden is green emerald. The sky, a patchwork.
TRAVIS TATE is a queer black playwright, poet and performer from Austin, Texas. Their poetry has appeared in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Underblong and Mr. Ma'am, among other publications. Their one-person drag show, It's a Travesty! One Night with Jazzie Mercado!, was presented at the 2017 Cohen New Work Festival and at Salvage Vanguard’s Three Headed Fest in November 2017. Their play MotherWitch will be presented in the University of Texas' New Theatre presentation in April 2018.