Jay Artemis Hull
Haunting House
When your house is falling apart, you don't evacuate
but goddamn you make some modifications.
Hang stained glass in the windows.
Invite friends over to paint the walls
because fuck it,
you're not getting the deposit back anyway.
Put some spackle on the hole in the wall,
a frame around the tears in the wallpaper
from when you were angry and trapped and
needed to destroy something.
People think the house is spooky already, own it.
Leave Halloween decorations up all year long,
put a New Year's Eve hat on the skeleton
and a St. Patrick's day garland on the plastic pumpkins
layering holiday on holiday in constant celebration.
If the music shakes the windows, turn it up.
If the mold in the corner starts to smell, burn incense.
Always keep a candle lit, and food out for the stray cats.
This house is unholy desecration of the american dream
and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Conjurers
We are angry,
the storm and I.
wind rips through alleyways
to the sound of thunder.
Feet hit gravel
in time to the beat.
We are dangerous.
Gathering power
from heat of asphalt
and rhythms of earbuds.
Clouds piling around buildings
with warning flashes.
Head set into the wind,
giving a snarl.
Unapproachable
with teeth and lightning bared.
My first serious relationship was with a polyamorous nonbinary kid with alternate personalities. It seems only fitting for me, a pagan nonbinary kid with hallucinations.
We took power from the way we stood out.
Queer couple making out in the front of the pit,
or eating pizza directly from the box
in the back row of a church
that you then fell asleep in,
or holding hands over ice cream,
cuddling closer in defiance
as the old man in the crumpled trilby glares.
We took power in the performance,
you chivalrously leading me by the arm into the movie theater,
making a loving fuss over who gets to pay.
We took power in our defiance,
talking loudly about spells on the bus
as if our words could weave power around us
and show how special we were.
We took power in acting the part:
in petty rebellion and the expressions on the faces of strangers.
I wonder though, what would have happened
if we took power in each other.
Because I think we both knew we weren't in love.
We just needed someone to be intimate with
without too much at stake.
I know I just needed that contact.
Hands clasped in a crowd, kisses at family events,
shoulder to curl up around in a cold bedroom,
anything to show I'm not alone.
And I think you just needed the excitement.
Someone to laugh with you
getting tattoos on a first date,
making a scene at the queer bar with the entire polycule,
anything to show you're not fading.
I think we both knew we weren't in love
we were just so damn hungry,
that performance art would do.
About Jay Artemis Hull
Jay Artemis Hull is a recent graduate of Michigan State University and most likely to be found writing in odd places or wandering in the woods. Their work has found a home in literary journals such as the Offbeat and Portage Magazine as well as more unconventional places including Jay’s poetry blog, verisimilines.tumblr.com, and engraved in Michigan State University’s sidewalk.