T4T ST. VALENTINE’S LYRIC
I god thee with bodkinwise blue rose,
thou god me in gowns mirthy white,
and in the place there no gods be,
a dross of courage corrals us two.
Flutes, horns, and tabors old conjoin
a mild melody — for respite —
along a coastal oaks’ wide grove
clamoring our names intertwined.
I goddess thee with lavender
thou goddess me honey-scriven
aubades for dawns never-ending,
beckoning a saintess unknown.
LEAVEN
FOR RIPLEY BAKER
FOR RIPLEY BAKER
Thomas, my twin, untongue-tie
my spirit. Sanctity in solace,
the summoner comes. There is a bill
but not to pay, for sale in the forum
of forms. We strive for a new
basis of form, and that is
the beginning of martyrdom’s
mark. Your field a ship to be toughed
and barnacle bound in a world
whose boundaries are not clear
from the strands beyond
the last shore, where fathers
played as children, Elizabeth
Bishop the greatest fisher of men.
Hypocritical to the fall, in the genesis
of our hearts’ response with the grave
season ahead. Walking with you
in the cemetery of memories
on a high feast day. The Wolf
and the Wheel of Fortune
share a protocol earnest:
carmina, carnitati circum cenæ, cava mea —
Biographical Statement
Alice Fulmer-Zelinka is a transbian poetess and PhD student at UCSB in English. She studies medieval poetry and its contemporary intersections in gender, sexuality and disability. Her premodern research ranges from the works Marie de France to Geoffrey Chaucer, with her contemporary poetics influenced by Dylan Thomas, Ocean Vuong and Jericho Brown. Her debut poetry collection Faunalia (2023) came out on Sul Books (an imprint of Aeon Books, UK) and a sophomore poetry MS is freshly finished. Other poetry publications include new words {press}, Ultraviolet Books, Gods & Radicals, and various undergraduate journals, with poems forthcoming in Fence and fifth wheel press.