Friendship – Autumn Christian & Stephanie Yue Duhem
August 2, 2022
The Girl on Arrakis
for Steff
You’ll never make it across the desert, the boys told her.
A girl like you would collapse at the edge of the dunes,
Water spent. Bones for the sun.
You’d drink from a mirage and swallow dust.
Everyone knows that dreamer is just another word for death.
A song. Just a noise to be discarded.
They said: Better that you stay here with me.
I’ll close the blinds. Save you from the heat.
But fold your elbows and your knees.
Be grateful for the cold even though it chokes.
The way I hook your lungs into the breath of another.
But you always knew the way out.
You lived in the space between the fantasy and the bridge of hope.
If only they could see the way you stepped, the way you slid,
Between dunes, through dry valleys,
Away from the mouths of monsters,
Underneath red stars.
For Autumn C., Recently Moved to Texas
in this parched state
in this late month
I receive
news of another city
in the north
in the east
other trees turning
tongues in burning mouths
orange cinderellas
…
nearby a church is chiming
eleven eleven eleven
while november shifts
her thickening thighs
in her chair of air
…
otherwise
time disclaims banners
a sparser lantana bush
more aggrieved raccoons at the bin
tics
in the face of the eleventh hour
Autumn when
did you decide to live
here again
…
orange cinderella
you asked me if you should
wear your black dress
I said yes and
accessorize
crown yourself!
set metals to glint
above your brow
and the blackest eyes
I ever saw
if I saw your eyes
at all
at all
…
here where writers
flit like ghosts
where your words won’t grace
a shelf
I waited
…
your season came back
and you
conceded
with gold hoops in your ears
to ornament—
Autumn I have been glad
for the event of you
…
though the years may
throw their fits
and rattle their throats
full-throttle
once a season
cycles in
cycles continue
with you in it
oh season stay
and be my reason
to stay
…
here your dogs
here your man
your bottle
of absinthe
your guns
your fans
your constant cancellations
your inconstant constellations
of coal-stained glances
and
though the church is burning
orange cinderella
attend attend attend