dancing on Christopher Street: August 23, 2018

​please know, Butterfly                                                            
              that you
                              and i have
                              danced together                      
since the paint
was
     fresh
on the walls of the disco---
maybe they’ve faded now?---

since the whispers
                             of desperate touch
                             would only creep
                             in fearsome
                             frustrated silence through a
                            warm wind on Christopher Street
                          
we have danced as long.

your hand, Butterfly,
                            in the back pocket of my jeans                               

my hand
              teasing around your breast, Butterfly,                                  
              as though i were trying
              to grasp                           
              your shoulder.
              lighting Holy Fire under your skin.
              setting
              free nerves that have slept
              through so many shameful     
              rough hands.

and we were rebels                                         
we were goddesses                                            
infinite and terrible

one glance from us could                                   
topple whole nations

and a kiss?                                                            
a kiss could end the world
and rebuild it free.



​

Tori Ashley Matos is a queer and GNB femme writer and performer from Queens, New York. The intersection of and tension between colonial structures and individual identity is the main subject of her work, but sex, identity, culture, and existentialism feature heavily in each piece. She studied Theatre at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has been published in the Newtown Literary Journal and Name and None magazine. Tori is a 2018 Dreamyard Fellow.