North Carolina LGBTQ+ Literature
N C L R ONLINE
9
BY AMBER FLORA THOMAS
Afterlife The scalloped crest of old lipstick on a favorite mug. We’ve kissed so many times now. I want to find you again. Your lips. My lips. Some familiar word. A braided smile against ceramic, speaking back. Sunday breakfast over thick coffee and greasy plates. Ting. Ting. How you say Anthropocene and solastalgia. Marking your long speech with a slow sip. A shade like coral, peach pit. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
I rub my thumb inside the handle and think back: smooth acidic fire, drinking every word, an invitation to what can’t be helped. I’m calling you home. Your bottom lip. The brown mug, kissing you again.
Where Joy Blooms, Study #14 (collage on holographic paper, 11x8.5) by Jane Cheek
AMBER FLORA THOMAS is the winner of the 2004 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Ann Stanford Poetry Prize, and the Rella Lossy Poetry Award. She has an MFA in poetry writing from Washington University in St. Louis and is an Associate Professor at East Carolina University. She has published three collections of poetry: Eye of Water (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005), The Rabbits Could Sing (University of Alaska Press, 2012), and Red Channel in the Rupture (Red Hen Press, 2018; reviewed in NCLR Online 2019). Read more of Amber’s poetry in the 2019 print issue of NCLR.
JANE CHEEK is this issue’s cover artist. Read about her in the inside front cover.