Art by Rustem Baltiyev
bodies like old parchments, numb and cold
minds like trash bins full of colours and critiques
souls like invisible quivering dots in the dead night sky,
there must be a name for this – a concept unrealized and left to question itself – a
history yet to be told in inelegant numbers – a life hiding in the ever-winter of
dispersed thoughts – us queers stuck in crosswires –
i have passed – you have passed – we all have slowly passed – waiting for anything
beyond the world defined in small glass boxes – as queers keep dying and living –
we moan to find – that something ever undefined –
in the hostile definitions of genders
boundaries drawn abruptly on us
like the map of Asia
Mani Mahesh Garg is a queer poet and visual artist from India and is now based in Toronto. His work explores queerness, race, love, and the existential, often at their intersection. He is co-author, compiler, and illustrator of Mirrored Spaces, a bilingual poetry and art collection. His poems have been shortlisted and featured by Wordweavers.