femme dragon

alison lubar

Oh Nemesis imprint– you squeeze
into jeans and find something
of silk to drape on top
like piped buttercream,

a décolleté dusted
with sparkling minerality,
put your femme-drag-on

again. That’s the only way
to add fire to your roar. Check out
your ass in the mirror then

throw your clean hair over your shoulder,
head tilted down. Wink. The mirror winks back.

You are both St. George and the Dragon.
You are just the one reading the picture book, A
ready to wobble in a velvet stacked-heel boot,
and keep your mascara waterproof

for just this reason. Besides, you know
how to pretty-cry, still, and hold your breath
all night. It’s just like passing a graveyard.

Resurrect the only way you’ve learned
to stay powerful, and if not powerful,
safe, and if not safe, then at least pretty

enough that they let you go, or at least
still stop for you at the crosswalk. Keep
the wings and flames under a cashmere cardigan
for when you really need them.

about the author

Alison is facing the camera. They have long, dark hair, and dark brown eyes, lined with black cat-eyed liner. They are in front of a brick wall, and are smiling, close-lipped. They have a gold septum ring and gold earrings, with a layer of mixed-metal chain necklaces. They're wearing a blue chambray sleeveless shirt.

Alison Lubar teaches high school English by day and yoga by night. They are a queer, nonbinary, mixed-race femme whose life work (aside from wordsmithing) has evolved into bringing mindfulness practices, and sometimes even poetry, to young people. Their work has been nominated for both the Pushcart & Best of the Net, and they’re the author four chapbooks: Philosophers Know Nothing About Love (Thirty West Publishing House, 2022), queer feast (Bottlecap Press, 2022), sweet euphemism (CLASH!, 2023), and It Skips a Generation (Stanchion, 2023). You can find out more at alisonlubar.com or on Twitter @theoriginalison.