Excerpt from Issue 309 (Autumn 2026)
"close/d" by Angelic Goldsky
Content note: includes queer slurs
when the group chat asks/ if I would rather go to the sauna/ where they
don’t separate by “sex”/ I pause/ want to say/ I am okay with either/ up
to you/ I am used to shaving my forests down/ waxing my rainbows/
rounding my back/ wearing an old smile/ on top of an older sliver/
but somewhere impossible in me/ I knew it was okay for me to want
to warm myself/ in my entirety/ to be fully alive/ wherever I am/ be it/
saunas/ holidays/ hospitals of/ rainless crimson/ I deserve to be human/
everywhere I go/
for a second/ this group chat is an afterlife of possibility/
maybe I am really/ always trans/ maybe I am myself even as I/ find my
own name/ as/ I discover my own bloodwork/
I am myself even as/ I don’t defend my dignity/ I let go of everyone who saw/ my rebirth as a death/ crossing a
frontline/ as giving myself up/ instead of/ surrendering myself in/to a
sovereign state/ I lay my girl-weapons bare/ expose my naked/ hairy/
war-torn/ unsmiling/ delight. I revel in/ the alchemy of myself/
I fought/ to believe in this new/ from all unchosen starting places/ old
homes that have become vacant from the inside out/ memorials other
people put into my name/ borders/ other people/ put into my body/
I fought to believe/ I would end up here/ and so I did/ transgender and
possible/
in this afterlife of possibility/ my pronouns/ are always my pronouns/
my gender/ is always my gender/ and my trust is always my trust/ and
damn I do trust/
the sound of forests bundled up/ the steam of eucalyptus/ twigs
cuddling each other at all costs/ like faggots do/ making sparks/// heat///
showing each other what is within reach/
— Angelic Goldsky (they/them) is a post-Soviet Jewitch poet devoted to transgenerational healing through queer embodiment. They curated the Rainbow Intimacies Poetry in Voice mixtape, represented Canada at the 2SLGBTQ+ World Poetry Slam Championship Showcase in Brussels, and have performed and been published across Turtle Island and Europe.
You can read Angelic Goldsky's poem "close/d" in Issue 309 Autumn 2026 now!
Order Issue 309 - Autumn 2026 (Canadian Addresses)
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