Mykki Rios is a queer genderfluid Mexican-American poet, performer and multimedia artist. Raised in Chicago, and having lived many places across the globe, Mykki has had works featured in issues of Welter, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Random Sample Review, Smoke and Mold Journal, Lupercalia Press' Vulcanalia anthology, and more. They were also a finalist in Lupercalia Press' 2022 Chapbook Series Contest.

chemise

mykki rios

my costumer cinches my corset/leaves me a gasping hourglass / then fastens me into my new old dress / a historically accurate garment / somehow / also my future / dyed a stone fruit at its perfect summer ripeness / adorned with eggplants and peaches along the ruffled hem / suddenly i transform / i’m a cupcake on a tiered tower at high tea / a powder puff on an immaculate vanity / the hairpin resembling flowers in a woman’s chignon / i feel like a poof/a floating/something airy and trembling with power / like this i could whisk across a dance floor / have an ornate necklace clasped at my nape / glittering across my décolletage / i feel in motion / the pleats are fins or wings or dandelion spores on a zephyr / i could step over anyone with my legs this long / and they’d thank me/my presence is so soft / i could go anywhere / talk to anyone/looking them in the eye / divine feminine confection / this bitch looks good / i am aloft