POETRY BY ARCADIA ESPINOSA

Alchemy

 We are alchemy.

You can’t convince me otherwise.

Every dot of makeup we put on ourselves is a personal statement.

Every drip of coating is old fire from the years of empires yet to be built.

Every color is a cry and every shade is a scream.

We don’t deal in X and Y.

We are pure fucking magic.

We are enchanters.

We are conjurers.

We speak to a voice that sings only for us and share it with those who are willing to listen.

We alter streams of consciousness by transforming ourselves into beings that defy gender,

biology, religion, and what most would call reason.

We rearrange molecules and devour atoms.

We transmit messages from the beyond and tear down glass walls.

We give those who watch an eighth eye then tell them to open it wider.

We manipulate shape and construct universes.

We are an incantation.

And, yes, we are witches and sorcerers and diviners and bards and whores and angels and we

come from the celestial dirt between God’s fingers.

We can alter the world.

It could start here.

We could be looking at a revolution.

We could be from the year 2525.

We could make dreams speak.

We could bring light to the dark.

And I could just be a street corner preacher calling for the end of all things to begin anew.

I want this country to know us.

I want us to live what we envision.

I want us to live.