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Dallas Raquel Klein

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Queer Lineage

Ashes, Stardust Look at Us Crawling Out the Mud 

Dust, dust pecked the open Gorge like mother
kissing your splintered feet. Like you were playing
too hard, and the dry grass laughed thistles
into your soles. You cried out, but she lifted
you into her arms. You were in so much pain. And yet,
you knew then like you know now, you had to keep playing. 

And in that dust, dust from eastern state topsoil,
I danced with you bare foot on the hill. The sun went down, down so slow like a bedtime story
too sweet to miss. Despite eyelids heavy, despite soft fingers
stroking your eyebrows, despite your mother’s voice. 

Dust, dust stirred up from Trombone Shorty’s 
riffs and runs, constellations ignited the cliffside. We gripped tight each star we could get our
hands on. You wrapped your arms around me because you are made of all the same things I
am made of. Your parents, just ahead, kissed and held each other’s hand because,
because they are made of that same stuff too.

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Peach Preserves

I was a visitor in her garden of peach 
trees, and dahlia buds fast asleep for winter. 
She gave me jam, gold 
in a quiet jar. She pulled out the seeds 
in September, a phantom 
promise. I trusted every word she said and tasted it
sweet on my morning toast. 
But I unearthed a reckless 
thorn, my sharp flint, 
a pit left un-pulled.
Now I mourn the winter trip she planned 
in a fever dream, two lovers nestled 
under blankets at a ski lodge up north. 
The mountains and the peach trees
will still blanket with snow,
and I’ll stay home. I’ll plant 
a patio garden. Herbs and ferns
and sturdy succulents. I’ll tend to potted things, 
rub dirt into my palms, and exfoliate 
the jagged pit stirring inside tender flesh.

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Dallas Raquel Klein is a queer, Chicana poet. She received her MFA in creative writing from Texas State University and her MLIS from University of Washington. She lives in the Pacific Northwest where she works for the public library and farms.

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