THE POEMS

You fell asleep on the tiles,
a translucent peacock loomed,
your sex opened and let out
a very blue, very high flame.

You wore a split veil, that morning.

Silent, nailed to her chair, the seated woman writes. She cracks. The poems fidget, slip their fingers: they seek to enter. Perched on her shoulder, the poems whisper in her ear. She captures their messages: “I love the sacred contortions you offer me.” The poems protest: “You're squeezing us too hard: careful, pet.”

More than descriptors, the words behave as commands or moves in a game—and the voice of the seated woman rises to play.

CLÉMENCE DUMAS-CÔTÉ was born in Montreal in 1986. She studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada and holds a master's degree in creative writing. She is the author of two poetry books, L'alphabet du don (2017) and La femme assise (2019), and the novel Glu (2022).

Clémence Dumas-Côté's profile page

E. S. TAILLON is a queer, neurodiverse writer and the former managing editor at PRISM international magazine. They hold a master’s degree in French literature from the University of Toronto and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. They have published prose in Déraciné and filling Station, and poetry in CV2, The /tƐmz/ Review, and Augur Magazine. Their first literary translation, Scenes from the Underground, was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers.

E.S. Taillon's profile page