Clem Flowers
(Cw: dysphoria, dysmorphia, depression, allusions to self harm)
Contains an homage to "Having A Coke With You," by Frank O'Hara
When your well-meaning boss asks you what “Non-binary” means & you’re in just enough of a space between manic & exhausted you launch into the topic with little hesitation
OK so you know that part in “Hungry like the Wolf” when it’s like straddle the line/between
discord & rhyme? OK so yeah it’s kinda like that kinda but not but kinda it’s like male is on the
left female is on the right and there’s the fence like Garfield sits on when he’d hang out with that
one girl cat he likes yeah see that’s me that’s how it is for me at least I mean I can’t do lasagna
Because yeah because of the cheese but I’m like that’s where I’m parked like some days it’s like
- I mean, look see here’s my button that literally says sissy I mean ha don’t think I can - like,
once I figured this out like learned what this term was what it meant oh my God I felt better than
I had in years - yeah, like some days I’m definitely feeling more masculine but even then it’s like
- it’s not what I imagine most people think of when they think “masculine,” you know? Not
(pardon my language) fucking off to a mechanic shop or a lumber yard or a gun range. I’m just a
person with a beard with tattoos with face piercings who sometimes likes western shirts & old
old comfy jeans or shorts & loafers and sometimes I’m just a person with a beard with tattoos
with face piercings who likes to wear cute tops all in florals and pinks and leggings and
platforms and just put on a bright shade of nail polish (easy tell of what gender I’m feeling BTW
brightness of the nail polish) it’s like I’m happy to be alive I just wish I didn’t have to bear witness
to (gestures to self,) you know? Just like I wanna not be tied to a label partly because I hate my
body partly because I hate my face partly because I hate the stock & hangups and outrage people have w/r/t
labels and what? Oh yeah phones right one person alone out there we should definitely get
back. Huh? No no you’re good happy up explain - sometime I’ll explain dysphoria & dysmorphia
and why they make me wanna just shed all the skin of my bones and start from the ground up
and just pick the features that are simultaneously Oblivion & Heaven and man I need some
fucking sleep - sorry again for the language.
Clem Flowers (They/ Them) is a poet, soft-spoken southern transplant, low rent aesthete, pizza man lover, gorgeous monstrosity, flamingo enthusiast, satanic mechanic, & dramatic tenor living in Home of Truth, Utah with their sweetheart & delight of a spouse, Moon, as well as their sweet kitty, Luna
Hella queer & Non-binary Pushcart & Best of the Net nominee.
Publication credits include: Olney Magazine, The Madrigal, Pink Plastic House Journal, fifth wheel press, Bullshit Lit, Corporeal, Holyflea, Anti-Heroin Chic, Messy Misfitsclub & Warning Lines Magazine.
author of chapbooks Stoked & Thrashing (Alien Buddha Press), TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS (Bullshit Lit), eating rain// matchstick graveyard (Alien Buddha Press), Snakeskin Stockings (kith press), motel neon (back room poetry), I KNOW NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT (Bullshit Lit), LUSH EYES// BLEED MOONSHINE (naked cat books), fate'll come around (naked cat books), New Pansies For The Blue Dogs (naked cat books), KUDZU (Cowboy Jamboree), and the full length collection I'VE BEEN GOING THRU SOME THINGS (kith books)