Gage Baldwin
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Invisible Countries
Words don’t live long outside the body,
Not most of them, anyway.
I can tell who is family
By the tension behind their teeth
The hesitance in their step
Like a sinner sneaking back
Amongst the gods. Do not believe
Their honeyed Words, let them hang
In the air and die. We are not welcome
In their false Elysium.
But then what land welcomes us?
Joy and Rage are good friends of mine
We met in a drag bar in 2016
They shared with me the Words
To find comfort in the space
Where they resist definition.
‘We’ve existed forever’, they said,
‘And despite what Bonnie Tyler
May have led us to believe,
Forever started a long time ago.’
I have no right to doubt to them,
I suspect they are correct. But I ask again,
If we’ve existed forever, surely
Some land must welcome us
Some land where we aren’t
Murdered in the streets
Beaten in the bathrooms
Left hanging in our closets
Beside that cute little sundress
That makes our mother cry.
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Late Nights
For Brian
The weight of your hand
simply resting on my knee was enough
To keep me from floating away.
I’ve always been fond of late night
Car ride rides through the city,
The streetlights like beacons
Bright enough to break the quiet.
You would speak
When I would’ve stayed silent,
And it made me smile.
That night, you would kiss my cheek
And I would kiss your neck.
I have a bad habit
Of pulling against my leash.
I know I’m built for speed,
But I crave your comfort
So I’ll calm my curious hands
And I’ll follow your lead.
We’ll do this right.
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Gage Baldwin (He/They) is a gay, agender poet with roots in Oklahoma. His work centers his existence in the Queer Leather culture, using poetry to capture the present moment. Knowing how often Leather is erased from Queer history, Gage aims to document the trust, defiance, and intimacy within underground sexual rebellion, so future generations of Leatherqueers may feel connected to their past.
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To learn more about submitting your work to Boudin or applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program, please visit Submissions for details.
Posted in Pride: June '26 and tagged in #boudin, #poetry, Poetry