I and my dead have lived to dirge another day, still
missing
her beloved teeth. My oiled palms quaff coral fields
without
the care of polymer & steel, the till-less aftermath a study in
grief,
the fly away nature of absence. I am a headful of detritus with
a tank
full of gas and no will, survival a Black beauty supply two miles
too far
from here & now. In absentia I walk without my beauty,
knowing
the white world cannot see, cares nothing about this kind
of loss.
Cai Sherley (he/him) is a Black trans poet-educator with roots in Boston, MA. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his poems can be found in Best New Poets, swamp pink, and Peach Mag, among others. His work centers Black transmasculine life, past and present, in the United States. He has found homes at The Watering Hole, Brooklyn Poets, Tin House, and Lambda, and is a member of the Crossroads Writers Collective and Trans Corner Poets. His debut chapbook, Out of Yearning, is set to be released in October 2026 by Sibling Rivalry Press. You can find him on the internet @crsed_poet.