by: Evan Link
In “Gosh” Evan Link asks “Is it impolite to put /off joy?” The correct answer is yes, it is. So don’t put off the joy of reading these playful, explosive, and tender poems, for as Link himself states in “The Bright Life:” “It’s hilarious; no one knows what/ the world means.”
Gosh
Oh, to be an evening cloud in
a cooling sapphire soup. But,
as a more-than-consolation, I’m
here with you. We’re dining by
a dusk-red piano with its keys
covered, our fish plates resting
beside each other—like us, only
dinner. An hour from now we’ll
sing standards in the dark, as
per the rule never to swing while
you eat. Is it impolite to put
off joy? In any case, I like you
enough to wait. And I like when
you’re next to me and we forget
we’re two people, or anythings,
really, just spectral presences
with a shared perception. It feels
like we hold the same notes, the
same echoey laughter, and the
same aftertaste of fish, perhaps,
in an endlessly moving refrain.
The Bright Life
You layer me with gentle wit till
I’m covered in colorful strings.
It’s hilarious; no one knows what
anything means. We wear the
same hoodie in the same pastel
on alternate days, like one of us
gobbled up the other. It’s disgusting.
I love the world so much. When
I wake in whatever state I’m in,
I think about breakfast and gently
petting the cat, not that Sunday
is the sad nightcap of a week, or
that there are years—precise and
fleeting confluences of feeling
and circumstance—that one can
never get back to. Maybe you’ve
pinned me down with the after-
glow of trust. And when I cup
your petals and single out the
tenderer bud, eyeing your dark-
earth eyes and the ungendered
storm that invisibly brings us
together, I feel my own private
ache, and, like you, safely blossom.
Evan Link is a graphic design student who writes poems, too. His poetry has previously been published in M Review, Radioactive Moat, and Everyday Genius, among others. Evan is openly transgender and, mostly to see what one can do with a bread bowl, has recently started to learn how to cook.
I just had an “I wish I could write like this!” moment. So beautiful!
Don’t be scared, it’s only poetry. What a great family name, Link. I’d use it as a pseudonym if it weren’t already taken.