Is this devotion? – by Rae White

ISLAND | ONLINE ONLY

I am waiting for the pressed flower

stains of this blooming obsession

to wane. Once, I specialised in the quality

control of colours, of carefully taming

 

the bruised clusters of spring.

Now I am consumed. Now I am

a physical and chemical cornucopia:

stamen and filament cascading

 

from belly button to thigh-crease to the nape

of your mouth. I carry each refrain

of your petal fingerprints across the flowing

topography of my skin.

 

(I will always carry you

with me.)

(Is this how flowers

fall in love?)

 ▼

Image: Angele Kamp - Unsplash


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Rae White

Rae White is a queer non-binary transgender writer, and author of poetry collections Milk Teeth (UQP 2018) and Exactly As I Am (UQP 2022). Rae was awarded the Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize in 2017 and has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, Queensland Literary Awards, and Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Their debut picture book All the Colours of the Rainbow (Lothian Children’s Books), with illustrations by Sha’an d’Anthes, was published in January 2025. Rae is Creative Director and Founder of community poetry initiative Uplift Poetry, and Founding Editor of #EnbyLife, a journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives.

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