Subhaga Crystal Bacon

Husbandry

I used to think I wanted a husband, a soft
cushion against the world’s sharp corners.
Like that least husband-material jazz
 
pianist, my friend’s brother, who once lifted
the sheets for me to back into his belly.
A husband like a brother, like my friend, Paul,
 
who used to drag me down Christopher Street.
Me in one hand, bagged tall boy
in the other. Thomas whose bed I shared
 
for mostly chaste naps before the baths
for him and book for me. Now I’ve become
the husband to myself, that deep drop
 
into the root of me; the daily chores:
dog watcher in the still dim morning
when hungry things might lurk. Fire-maker,
 
wood mover, tea boiler. I’m self-
anointed in baggy sweats and men’s vest.
Never mind my breasts, soft vent,
 
the place that opens to where I’m cleft.

Subhaga Crystal Bacon is the author of two volumes of poetry, Blue Hunger, 2020 from Methow Press, and Elegy with a Glass of Whisky, BOA Editions, 2004. Her manuscript, Transitory, was selected as a finalist for the Ex-Ophidia Poetry Book Prize. A Queer Elder, she lives, writes, and teaches on the east slope of the North Cascade Mountains in Twisp, WA. Her recent work appears or is forthcoming in the Limit Experience Journal, Indianapolis Review, Mockingheart Review, and the Lavender Review. She was a Pushcart and Best of the Web nominee in 2021. Her work can be found on www.subhagacrystalbacon.com.