AT THE RAVE, ALL I CARRY IS MY ENNUI

by Dare Williams

---

The light 
that scrapes 
my back 
is a rhetorical one.
Blue fractals dripping 
onto the floor. 

Everyday 
this tight weather. 

There is a vision 
I have of myself 
and then
there’s the internet. 

You’re so brave 
someone tells me 
for what you are 
doing. 
But listen, I
want to rage. 

I am too tender 
for all of it
a shipwreck
at the afterhours. 

Not even this light
throwing its yellow
beat can get me there.

I don’t see a face 
I can recognize.

---

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/fellowships from Frost Place, Tin House, and Breadloaf. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best American Poets 2021, and is featured in THRUSH, West Trade Review, Exposition Review, The Shore, and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter: @Dare_Williams13