Valentín's Haibun ~ Skyler Reneé Thurman

The painting depicts Cupid and Psyche. White feathered wings and bare skin. The museum fluorescents illuminate the strokes of oil. The arm reaches up towards his curls, a pale serpent. My arm is pale too. Your hair is curly too. We saw two red cardinals kissing outside. We are two cardinals holding hands inside the gallery. My clamminess doesn’t bother you. Your eczema doesn’t bother me. The angel pendant you don lays gently upon your collarbones, which I have caught myself looking at four times now. Five. Those collarbones, a bed I wish to lay upon too. You’re an angel too. The security man with the cane stares as we walk, and I almost wonder if we are the first queer people he’s ever seen. Your peach-fuzzy mustache and golden eyeliner and sage dress. Oh, I adore you. My yellow skirt which sweeps the floor for him. Psyche is blushing. Cupid is smiling. I blush. You smile. 

You are the hell fire

that beautifies the dead wood,

burning up the old. 

~~

Skyler Renée is a young American anthropologist and writer who is enamored by all things Toni Morrison and Joan Baez. They like to write about gender, sexuality and religion, and are obsessed with the southern gothic aesthetic.