The Theory of Love
a poem by Annika Sage Ellis
Peek in on yourself, sometime
On that person in the mirror
Wearing their favorite pajamas
Smiling and humming and dancing
Around their bathroom
While brushing their teeth
To the song they’ve been singing all day
Finally released, finally relieved
Alone but for the stranger they can’t see
And yes, they are off-key
And yes, they are off-beat
And yes, that shirt has a hole in the sleeve
But they are so unwaveringly happy—
Even if only in this moment—
They are unfalteringly human
If you cannot be in love with it
The simplest things we do
When you are your only voyeur
What, then, is left for you?
lucifer
a poem by Annika Sage Ellis
at best, they call us helpless
poor lost little girls who
can’t find their way in a cruel world
and when we refuse their help
they call us hysterical
young women too lost in their
own delusions to see how far
they’ve strayed from the path
and when we reject them
they call us traitors
we’ve lost our halos and become
demonic men, agents of corruption
angry beasts of fire and wrath that
seek only to destroy their sanctity and yet—
when we live, we are not respected
they tape over our mouths and insist
we’re mistaken
when we die, we do not keep our names
they’re taken from us, our last wishes
thrown out with our dignity and buried in dresses
and they shrug when we ask where our brothers are buried
“what brothers?” they say. “those poor women will surely repent”
“at the holy gates, admit to sacrilege”
“they were never yours to claim”
but if the body is such a sacred place
we partake in the holy act of creation
and your desecration of men
made divine in our image
is more a sin than any of us
have ever been
florida
a poem by Annika Sage Ellis
i will miss the year-round flowers
blooming in bright colors at all hours
and dozens of lizards on my porch
that scattered at the calls of the swamp birds
i will miss the perfect warmth
of an endless summertime
where every season was duckling season
and the flocks that flew south, flew to me
i will miss hurricane parties
celebration in the face of nature
and sniffing about a disaster too small
to have a party about
i will miss the resilience
of a place determined, in the face of hate
to fly flags with pride where protests gathered
memorials raised up with their arms
i will miss you, where i go next
through no fault of your own
and hope i will see you again
with your summer storms and humid wind
