Liam Strong

inverses. [forward thinking. ingrown hair. toy boy.]

 

 

shark tiger. shrimp butterfly. lobster rock. ring cock.

free gluten. eleven oceans. fever barrel. aggressive passive. 

luigi & mario. pea snow. strap jock. no yes.

god of lamb. bead prayers. pastetooth. yarn of balls.

 cheek in tongue. chapless ass. sock cum. bangflash.

spider wolf. lustblood. lessmotion. short boxers. 

predator sex. gaze male. shadow five o’clock. callcat.

friend’s best man. give a cookie a mouse. animal stuffed. states united.

 jean skinny. rape date. slashback. bunny dust.

blind vinyl. candy hard. frond palm. punch gut.

beltrust. starterfire. lint pocket. anonymous alcoholics.  

found and lost. goliath and david. berryblue. send to returner.  

worthytrust. hatfag. outsell. byegood.

flymay. bugjune. shower april. shower golden.

waresoft. clothesunder. boyplay. backcome. 

timeany. whereany. moreany. bodyany.

in which kirby & yoshi hook up a few times & then—

 

:0  ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( (          c--------------------------------------------------

do not call a mouth
an absence                                                      

 

his tongue w/ his
tongue             <of what to

 name a vacuum after>           
(of what to suck                       

                                                                        white bellflowers like tablature                                                                         in the gum of his body)

                                    consider lips
                                  a windmill
                                    how he reaches w/o
                                    reaching for flesh                                

                                                                        <share fly amanita in lonely
                                                                        fields> (their red plush
like saddles for the swallow
he too calls fulfillment                                                a kind of empty)

                                                                        <paint ukrainian eggs on his birth
                                                                       day                  yeah how nothing

hatches from broken ornaments>                  
(not even a memory of                                    him
                                                                       not his cuticles

of shells at his lover’s                                     dimples)

 

he calls him
sweet
as if he could tell
w/o cake or rhubarb between
them                wax puddles into frosting
& he tells him to
blow

Liam Strong (they/them) is a queer neurodivergent cottagecore straight edge punk writer who has earned their BA in writing from University of Wisconsin-Superior. They are the author of the chapbook everyone's left the hometown show (Bottlecap Press, 2023). You can find their poetry and essays in Impossible Archetype and Emerald City, among several others. They are most likely gardening and listening to Bitter Truth somewhere in Northern Michigan.