more than one way to be a gravedigger – divya

i bet your hands taste like honey. put a finger in my mouth
….& let me dream it. i watch you roll cigarettes –
i know you memorized my number when we were in eighth grade
i know you think of me when you can’t sleep at night

the ghost of me lingers these corridors in your house,
counts your pennies, fucks with your linen. oh baby,
you listen to songs to kill time, you dance in empty houses
and i think of the last boy i loved
& how he set fire to everything

me too, i think. i’ll have that fag, thanks. i am a fag, thanks.
i blow smoke out like a fairy godmother. who am i
if not this broken glass bundle of queer? i have always been
pretty face, ugly existence. the fire alarm, the dynamo.
the girl of your dreams, the girl with tree-branch fingers
typing out obituaries in the cold dampness of 3AM thursdays.

Divya is a writer and dreamer whose hobbies include reading poetry, drawing pictures of flowers in their sociology study notes, romanticizing make-believe worlds and occasionally ignoring the rules of grammar in the name of art. They have posted their work on various online platforms since 2016. They believe in the healing powers of nature, art, music, sunsets and in the overall goodness and resilience of people. They currently live in the southern half of the Indian subcontinent, but can be found online in various places, most notably @divwhine on twitter and @cyanidesunflowers on WordPress.  Their work has been previously published in The Brown Orient and Rose Quartz Magazine.