Ode to My Preposterous Tiny Moustache’s First International Flight
now and at last / not a second too soon / this soft profusion / vellus giving over / to bristled glory / to suck with bottom lip / this monument to shadow / this dastardly smudge / like those which heralded / tongue saturated kisses / cheap fake IDs / this trichome of transness / less peach fuzz than poppy bud / less caterpillar than / dissected worm parts / writhing in dirt / complimentary chocolate melting / embossed plane / blurred by tongue / and even placeless / it can no longer be denied / i am a man / horripilated by turbulence / passing scanners frictionless / now and at last / official recognition of my shifting face / though i didn’t want this / to belong to anyone else / want to stop myself / from stopping myself / from letting hips sway when i walk / from cutting laugh off / when I caw in higher key / allow myself to exist somewhere between / ageing and pubescent / a double-exposed film / face covered in / branches / starlight / tarmac / acne / monumental shadow of improbability / programme in my popping ears / telling me / there’s no reason not to / feed your compost pile / citrus rind and rotting meat / if you can handle / the need for patience / if you don’t mind attracting / wilder things / thumbnail / embarrassment of nasturtiums / erupting from / unlikely heap / now and at last / remembering to stretch / even in my seat / this the biggest change / really feeling myself to be / custodian of / hothouse of knotted muscle / 206 bones / subtly reconfiguring / 5 million follicles / more and more / of the hairs / approaching terminal / now and at last / no need to / plan escape routes / i’m still emerging / even as i run my fingers over my philtrum / like desiccated autumn grass / and the ground rises up to meet me / softly
Dylan McNulty-Holmes (he/they) (@dyl_amh) is the author of the chapbook Survivalism for Hedonists (Querencia Press, 2023). His writing has been made into a T-shirt, live-scored by a disco band, and appeared in journals such as Redivider, ANMLY, and The New Welsh Review. He is a Best of the Net & Pushcart nominee, and was shortlisted for the 2022 New Media Writing Prize. He lives in Berlin.