saints
november 15, 2022
a poem to celebrate the lives of transmasculine saints.
i don't believe in god but i do believe in saints
those men with mortified bodies
martyred and heavy with expectation.
flesh burnt away and exchanged
for divine incarnate.
that which is itself
never meant for us to partake
but we grasped it we took it
stickysweet oil pierces our palms
and drizzles down from our fingers
i don't believe in god but i do believe in saints
creation bloats veins with
a blood not meant for mortals
a blood that decays but nourishes and
leaves stigmata where those men's wombs once were.
that which is itself
demanded proof of our devotion
we paid in pounds of skin
flayed by the scalpel's blade
and resewn with catgut stitches
i don't believe in god but i do believe in saints
show me the reliquaries where parts of them rest
their incredible bodies, golden and gilded,
so i may bow my head
and indulge in their holy alchemy