my aunt theresa/my gia carangi
[killed herself – she visited three times after she died]
aubry threlkeld
You bewitch me Theresa/Gia
That afternoon when my brother – cousin and I found
red trails reconstructing – the last few moments
in the kitchen – but that was not – where she shot herself
in the bathroom – next to your makeup
Our love was unknown I was a child
And there was all too much abuse around us
Her powers limited but – extravagant – her tools
eyelash curlers – a mirrored walk-in closet – replete
with sequined gowns – Her firm knowledge
of party drugs and 80's daytime television – a gunshot on Dynasty
old young Decadent!
female male Who gives a shit!
She rode style for life – There was Studio 54 – beautiful
but gay – a tongue – forefinger – up his ass – He’s yours!
Try leather thongs – poppers – blue feather boas – pink plastic phalluses
Clip Vidal Sassoon hair advertisements – Wear v-shaped magenta dresses
teased hair – rhinestones – below your breasts – a compass
rose – in black and white shimmer – and red lips always red lips
on the path of
interpreting post-traumatic stress disorder
She needed blood – not suntan oil – mineral water – not predator prints
just in time – for Falling – ill – It’s like it never happened – shooting – snorting up
fucking your way to the top –
She was on the cover of Vogue – once upon a time
maybe a week – two she’ll get better – she won’t pass like this –
not like this – alright – fine – She had Cosmo on the floor
After she passed she visited my bedroom three times
and said everything must pass She was okay
The hole in her head dark with oxidation a Kaposi’s sarcoma
about the author
A portrait of a white genderqueer person staring into the distance wearing a suit with pinstrips and a pearl necklace. They are smiling and there is a flourish of metallic blue on the side of the image which seeps into their profile.
Aubry Threlkeld (they) grew up in and around Charleston, SC and currently live in Boston, MA with their spouse Erik and two cats, Mia and Boris. They identify as a white person of Roma(ni) descent, queer, and genderqueer. Their writing is typically autoethnographic and/or ekphrastic and centers on mental illness, disability, and 2SLGBTQIA issues. They have poetry featured in Stone to Stone: A North American Romani Women’s Anthology (Propertius) and a recent memoir in Tinfoil Hats: Stories by Mad People in an Insane World (Autonomous Press). They grew up with their grandmother and mother speaking Angloromani, playing cards, and laughing whenever possible.