Erin O'daniel is a gender expansive writer exploring Queer Intimacy with Place alongside the sexual climate(S) of Pleasure + poetry across geographies/cultures.

‘Midwestern Fail’ (poetic nod to the stoics)

‘Midwestern Fail”-

new nickname

lovingly stamped on me

by a friend

last week while

walking Minnesota Point.

i’m still wearing my

mittens- big enuf

to box with

all in the name

of warmth for

my ”fragile bitches”

(chilblained fingers).

bigLake watershed in

March is no joke,

the sheKing of mid-wintering.

boo fascism! and seasons that

stand against shedding layers

and showing emotion.

time with my southern

homes freed up skin

and softened intimacies.

and still I flaunt

this new moniker

with pride.

yes, to fail is to flourish!

as in I feel up the

stoic virtues of

justice

courage

temperance

and wisdom

and wait for spring,

when I’ll throw the

externals to fate.

Aquatic Enjambment