i ask when trans day of remembrance is and siri says i don’t know what that is
but i guess i’m the one who
forgot first. i always hold on a bit
longer before we all drive home.
in the space between embrace and the
got home safe! text, i try not to
remember. i may tempt fate into premature
loss.
i nag my love into writing a
will. i fear if they die before i do i’ll have to pry
their good name from a mother’s misgenderings.
i think i am sometimes afraid of how well we
mourn. i lit a candle when every part of me transitioned
from the dead. don’t you know candles can be
portals? sometimes, i swear
a funeral flickers in the warm.
Jazz Bell (they/ them) is a multimedia artist based in Texas. Their poetry has been published in Muzzle Magazine, Nat. Brut, The Dialogist, just femme & dandy, and elsewhere. Jazz has been nominated for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. They are a Pink Door alum and Write Bloody Chapbook contest finalist. Learn more about Jazz at jazzbell.me.