I
Pink is in the air
youths frolic in sandboxes
brown freckles dot pink faces
workless days and wet nights
honor thy mother and father
clouds squeezed for milkrain
pacifiers suit pinklips better than kisses
II
Eggs burrowed in the sand
hatchlings swirl in a gyre with mirth
newborn sea turtles perceive the sea
twinkling waves and twinkling eyes
it is happy to be here, friends
fishermen net the sea on the horizon
The timebat devours pinkcaterpillars
III
Spring may be as pink as the arctic
wings flap psychotic cycles in the sky
sweet blueberries fall on to icydirt
oceans would freeze if they could
seagulls spot hatchling turtlechildren
pinkjoy conceives of no evil
turtleblood is the currency of the land
IV
Behold the Garden of Roses
Thoth documents all worldgrief
leafygreen vines can ’ t strangle deadstone
scarlet phoenixes digest pinkbutterflies
every sundown obscures walkways
chained in an eternal gyre
greenstems sprout pinkflowers
V
Pinkelectricity energizes the recurrence
few turtledances yield the sea
pinkworms feast on grayhearts
peppered Hegelian brows mask pinksouls
there will always be another pinkmuse
even as the sun sets on the fleshy empire
celebrate the logic of pink

G . R . Tomaini is an LGBTQ Federal McNair Scholar. His academic monograph on Philosophy is being prefaced by the internationally renowned Philosopher and Public Intellectual Dr. Cornel West. One of his four unpublished full-length poetry manuscripts has just been accepted for publication by A Thin Slice of Anxiety Press -- Ballad of An American Ganymede; the work consists of 57 poems in the manner of Queer Existentialist Poetry inspired by Heidegger and Sartre. Two of his other books of poetry have been accepted for publication by Pumpernickel Press, to be published jointly under the title: Pride and Prejudice and Poppers: Two Attempts At Queering The Canon; the two books of poetry that have been accepted at Kiss Me, Ahab! and Gayowulf. Tomaini’s poems are being featured in Outcast Press's magazine and in an anthology by The Incognito Press.