Lupercalia

Luís Costa

Tyrant sorrow, dressing wounds under

the glowing light      of the microwave.

Devoured by this jungle of desolation.

Tonight, your body       will surrender

to the storm.  And I wait for the tides

to turn, for the whip to rest. My plate

is full of lemons. Just for now, he will

possess you.     Leather, oil and wood,

crimson breaths      breeding grudges.

I have always been the rain.     This is

a minute of sage disquiet.      Rotating,

mordant elixir.       Because tomorrow

the earth will dry,    my feet will warm.

And all of his ropes    will set me free.

Chronogram

Luís Costa

Originally published in INKSOUNDS Journal 4

All this time,

                     we were the moths.

In pants and socks.

                                  Shirts on the

bedroom floor.

                         One day they will

make a film about us.

                                         Chasing

candles, baking tarts.

                                       We have

danced around the dust.

                                           And so

I have loved you,

                               dawn through

dusk,

             quivering wings rising in

teeth,

             sugar,         

                          peach and

                                           tongue.

LUÍS COSTA (he/they) is, among many things, an anxious queer poet living in London. Longlisted for the 2022 Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry and a finalist of the Write Bloody UK competition, his recent work can be found in Visual Verse, Stone of Madness, Inksounds and Queerlings. Luís holds a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, and likes Baroque music, numbers and wine. He tweets @captainiberia.