Binx Perino
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A LINEAGE OF PROTOGYNY
Excuse me
for putting
my fingers
where they
don’t belong–
I’m no scientist.
A sea bass had a sex change.
This happens quite frequently
among them, quite naturally.
It’s basic biology,
though less than ten
percent of the global
ocean is mapped
and charted and
cataloged. So much
is missing down
where the overlooked sea
bass flounders. My hands
are deep in the water
of things I don’t
quite understand.
I reach and feel
the skin of a coastal
ancestor sliding across
the binary, swimming
in my fingertips.
MY NUMEROUS ERRORS
When preparing a salad, I forget
to wash the lettuce leaves. Some-
thing in the refrigerator grows
older and odorous. The garbage
reeks of forgetfulness. There’s
an umbrella sitting dry during
a downpour, which soaks me
completely just before a meeting
I am running late to. It is Wednesday.
Or it is Tuesday. My calendar
is hung up on a month that isn’t
current yet feels present. In it’s
absence is its presence, repeats
in a voice message. I can’t answer.
I can’t call. I am swallowing
my words because the last time
I saw you was the last. It’s lodged
in my throat. It’s stuck on my wall.
It festers in the corner of my mind,
sweet rot of white strawberries.
Biographical Statement
Binx River Perino is a queer poet from Texas with an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. A participant in the Sundress Academy for the Arts’ 2024 Trans/Nonbinary Writers Retreat, their work has appeared in Tyger Quarterly, Hooligan, Door is a Jar, Cold Mountain Review, and elsewhere. Based in Chicago, he is an occasional contributor for Third Coast Review and an organizer with the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America.