Jona Fine
My body only wants to live in velvet
a very specific green gold—mossy
I want everyone to feel how soft I am but
you’re on the other side of Zoom
I pretend it’s comfortable to sit cross legged knees up
I contort and smush my body to frame myself
in hopes that you will notice
that you will text me
telling me how much you wish you could
rub your face against my velvet thighs
I only want to live in velvet because—loneliness
I only want to live in velvet because I am alone
and have been alone for a very long time
I only want to live in velvet because I never have to leave my house anymore
touch is something I took for granted
the last time I hugged my sister and she was surprised by that
she doesn’t believe me, that one of my love languages is touch but
she doesn’t come over enough to know my closet is
filling up with velvet and
sometimes I sleep in it
—Submitted on 10/18/2020 to the erstwhile series What Rough Beast
Jona Fine‘s poems have appeared in journals including DryLandLit and Polari Journal, as well as in anthologies. A 2016 Lambda Literary Fellow, they hold an MFA in poetry from Naropa University. Living in Colorado, Fine works at an LGBTQ youth suicide hotline and lives with their leopard gecko, Max.
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