Queer Ode to Middle America//Elizabeth J. Wenger & Tara Labovich

i hate myself for being born in a country i can’t help but want to worship, but madly, like a drunk french-kissing a bottle. there are rules for falling in love and they are written down somewhere, in some small town library in a yellowing plastic case. but i have fallen in love incorrectly, like backing the family car into the living room and savaging great g-ma’s porcelain, dinnerplate shards like a mosaic on the dingy carpet. if i’d fallen in love correctly, could i hold my body at night instead of sending it away with the river tide? if i didn’t thirst like i do, could i drink of my hometown, of the gun range chorus ringing across my plains, of highway-quilts and semi-trucks toting tomatoes and concrete to better places, of diners no one can remember the names of, of a city, of my city, of a place i always dreamed could cradle me as i am.

Elizabeth J. Wenger and Tara Labovich are candidates at Iowa State University's MFA in Creative Writing and Environment. They collaboratively author poetry and short stories in exploration of the potential for creative community.