Dare Williams
​Image by Engin_Akyurt on Pixabay                                                                                          
A 2019 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, Dare Williams (he/they) is a Queer HIV-positive poet, artist, rooted in Southern California. He has received support for his work from John Ashbury Home School, The Frost Place, Breadloaf and Tin House. He was the co-curator of the West Hollywood Literature Festival 2021. Dare’s poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and Best American Poets 2021. His work has been anthologized in Redshift 5 by Arroyo Secco Press and is featured in THRUSHThe ShoreExposition ReviewNight Heron BarksCultural WeeklyAltadena Review and elsewhere. He is at work on his debut poetry collection. Follow him on Twitter/IG (@Dare_Williams13) and on his website (www.darewilliams.com). 
​Blue in Green 






Mother, you don’t know the sound of a good horn 
the way it slices through night with its groan,
how it spills through the city in search of a partner. 
You scuff across the kitchen with heavy feet, 
pierce your dinner with a fork. Miles away I am
sick and sweaty, held by a leash being led
through the tar of this town. I’m fumbling for a baggy 
and a key. It’s not supposed to be like this. I am 
an irreplaceable shade of twilight, I am weighted.  
Never have I seen your face bend the way
a blue note does when I arrive at the door.  
A crackle in the vinyl, weathered and out of tune, 
too far gone to call in, too close to say goodbye. I ring 
the bell, I say I love you; I get paid. This is our little dance. 



©2021 West Trade Review
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