Words:
Bear
Queen
Secret Truth:
Bear Queen
“Bear” was the first Janelle Monäe song I ever heard.
“Queen” is how I describe my body type.
Bear has a rap verse I wish I could memorize.
Queen makes me feel a lot more ferocious than I am.
Bears eat wings and throw the bones on the ground.
Queens have sharp claws, but I’m always biting my nails.
Bear asks if Janelle is a freak for getting down.
I wish I could hug my loved ones like a Queen.
Bear is tired of Marvin asking Janelle what’s going on.
Yes, Queens do that in the woods. It’s tired. Come up with a new expression.
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, Virginia. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch: A Collection of RuPaul’s Drag Race Twitter Poetry (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne: A Collection of Real Housewives Twitter Poetry (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). He has had fiction, poetry, and literary reviews published in Quail Bell Magazine, Lambda Literary Review, Barrelhouse, Sage Cigarettes (Best of the Net Nominee, 2023), Stories About Penises (Guts Publishing, 2019), and more. For more information, visit carriganak.wordpress.com or on Twitter @carriganak.