invocations of faggot justice

one

i am an animal of pure yellow light today

my words of power spring from me like ice

i am an angel of queer vengeance and rage
see my wings see them glow see them

i carry a flaming sword i know how to use it

i ride a white horse i am barefoot i am beautiful

i wear a thorn of no crowns i carry thistle i carry nettle

i am enhaloed when you look at me
            from dust where you have fallen

i will have what is mine you may carry it no longer

i will no longer carry what is yours

my teeth are sharp my knife is sharp i am out for blood

i will have your blood this time

my stigmata are radiant in the golden hour my retribution swift

i have forgotten my father’s house i have forgotten my father’s name
my garments are of wrought gold

i am the sun i will burn your skin until it breaks
            i will not stop burning no not even then

i will step on your grave wherever it lay

i will have my bones from where you tried to bury them
            i will not be buried

no weapons against me shall prosper

i will have your blood

two

no longer babybird meek
now one triumphant talon
through a palm—any

no longer sunrisesilence
now howling with flowers
around me at the light—any

no longer bonedry
bored now wetness
whet with kissing stars—any

no longer shawdowsized
skulking now merciless
beams of joys—any

no longer jayhidden
seeds in you now oaktree
roots crushing cowards—any

no longer you no
now me trumpeting
love’s many victories—all

jasper virginia avery is a writer and poet currently living in philadelphia. her debut collection, number one earth, was selected as the winner of the 2017 Metatron Prize. her poetry has appeared in hot dog, The Puritan, fields mag, and was exhibited at the Man-Made Disaster gallery opening. Her non-fiction has been published with Real Life Magazine and Melt Magazine, and is forthcoming from the Invisible Books' Invisiblog.