Green Carnations
By Olivia Laine
I contain colors, collections of poetry, love almighty quivering within soft corals, marmalade jams, flora adorning my crown. free. softened by sunlight, healed from nights spent within the lush world of language divine, caramelized daydreams, my love is peppered in sugary-spun song.
Red. a quivering, shimmering, intoxicating rhythm. cold creams, gilded lids, Aretha franklin’s r-e-s-p-e-c-t uttered across cherry lips. whisperings of stonewall, Compton’s cafeteria, cooper do-nuts riots. ruby tones, the blood that was lost, burning scarlet letters & an outrage fueling change.
Orange. the flicker and flame in Marsha P. Johnson’s eyes as she threw the first brick. fire & fury curling around raised palms, begging for relief, speaking of unity.
Yellow. sun speckles dancing across the masses as their feet sing a beat: Gay is good, Black is beautiful. lemon curd cakes & daffodil bouquets for a celebration so bright.
Green is emulsified with emerald like the revolutions of the Alvin Ailey dancers. lime greens & deep forest sequins spinning through the atmosphere. growth making its way through the soil and into the hands of modern dancers. adornment of the arts.
Blue. the cooling lapis tones, wintering wise words of James Baldwin as he breathed sapphire. a passion running deeper than the pacific ocean’s yearnings.
Indigo is rooted deep within justice & revolutionaries bathe in the cobalt war paint. pristine power to the people.
Violet shakes with sugary-spun royalty. the Queens wrap themselves in soft lavender marching for the freedom of ever human in the LGBTQ+ community. crowns created from oppression and reclaimed in purple & glimmering calla lilies.
an opalescent voice that shakes the dust from time itself.
taste the freedom as if it were a summered blackberry cobbler or a seeping red wine. savor it like you would a manifesting sunset or a long-lost lover. freedom melting on the tongues of many & more to come.
flowering fruit.
Footnotes: We celebrate Pride because of the magnificent voices of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Audre Lorde, Bayard Rustin, James Baldwin, and so so many more that trail-blazed this journey towards equality & who were at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ movement. Every year we celebrate Pride because of the Black Trans leaders that began this journey. We owe them a huge celebration for their legacy and acknowledging their prevalent role in this movement. Thank you, Marsha P. Johnson and every human, before & after her, for fighting endlessly for the equality of the LGBTQ+ community. Rest in Power, Marsha.
Olivia Laine (she/they) is a poet, dancer, & lover of all things creative writing & coffee. She was the winner of the Kate Besser writing awards in poetry & has work published in the 2019 Santa Fe Literary Review. She loves to write about women, bees, the LGBTQ+ community, and lemon curd.