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.

ODE TO ADUT AKECH’S WALK FOR JACQUEMUS

mykki rios

her stride is sinewy and seamless
yet each step snapshots
a deliberate animation sequence
of perfect illustrations emerging
with each gesture a bird of paradise
scarlet and magenta with clementine pop
the beat paces itself to her motions
when i say she ticked joints and rippled like a macaw
hovered off the ground a hummingbird
poured through space as a snake does
i mean the primordial divine
where birds and serpents are deities
living atop entire sacred towers
or sleeping sprawled across immense lake-beds
i mean she evoked something lush and jade
without wearing any green
a falling leaf mille feuille set in tree resin
that walk kept going long after you couldn’t
see it with your eyes