"deliver us" by Haley King
Natalia Prusinska | Conservation
The mountains fan out
like police surrounding a home.
I hum a song I hate,
trudging through grasslands
which are more a sign of ecological
corruption than self-willed nature.
The view is dusted in
an off-brand gold.
I watch as clouds settle
on an opposite peak
like a bag of ice on a bent knee;
a dozen sheep move across the base
like a crack in the plaster
wall. I read there were once
forests here, and wolves and elephants,
as many species as there are tourist tchotchkes
at the welcome center. But we choose
to preserve the damage we caused;
a more easily realizable nature
than wilderness,
its streams and grasses, beautiful
like a woman smoking a cigarette.
like police surrounding a home.
I hum a song I hate,
trudging through grasslands
which are more a sign of ecological
corruption than self-willed nature.
The view is dusted in
an off-brand gold.
I watch as clouds settle
on an opposite peak
like a bag of ice on a bent knee;
a dozen sheep move across the base
like a crack in the plaster
wall. I read there were once
forests here, and wolves and elephants,
as many species as there are tourist tchotchkes
at the welcome center. But we choose
to preserve the damage we caused;
a more easily realizable nature
than wilderness,
its streams and grasses, beautiful
like a woman smoking a cigarette.
Natalia Prusinska (she/her) is a queer poet. Her chapbook, Hard Jolts of Hope, was published in 2021. Her work is forthcoming or has been featured in Cream City Review, Passages North, Ghost City Review, Jet Fuel Review, Hooligan Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives with her partner in Los Angeles. Twitter: @NataliaGodyla
Haley King, also known by their artist name GRVNGE LESTAT, is a Chicago based LGBTQ+ mixed media artist who primary uses illustrative methods to construct their body of work and combines that with digitally manipulating their own photography to achieve an effort to create their artistic world that houses themes of hauntingly provoking atmospheres.
Instagram @grvnge.lestat
Tik tok @grungelestat
Instagram @grvnge.lestat
Tik tok @grungelestat
