a f carbajal (they/he) is a Spanish queer and non-binary writer and academic living in the North of England. They are Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton (London), where they teach English Literature and Creative Writing. Their poetry has appeared in Defunkt Magazine and been selected for the Grist anthology We're in It Together: Poems for a DisUnited Kingdom. Their poem "sing(e) me" will be published in the seminal issue of the new transdisciplinary journal Queer Aesthetics. They live in the historical border between Yorkshire and Lancashire with their civil partner, their son, three cats, a whippet, and a varying number of goldfish.

a bit of fluff

a f carbajal

Spooled
, spun
, as if a hundred miles of yarn
have been woven
around and around
, pushed into uncomfortable
shapes

, my clothes disintegrate
: shoved a little bit
, shrunk a little bit
, squashed a little bit
, fucked a little bit .

They leave me a flimsy
purple little flannel
that comes undone in
my hands , fragile
— candy floss
, but with no
calories .

If I get made redundant
I shall make me a purple
coat out of tumble-dryer
fluff
, wrap it round my naked
body and run down the
street
, and watch the curtains
twitch
as the fine film peels off me
like a
chrysalis .

The heart of the neighbour
down the lane will skip a
beat or two
, and I will
cackle a witch’s laugh
and shan’t give a
monkey’s .