after Revolutionary Girl Utena & Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury
gay as in let’s revolutionize the world, babe.
solitary star, when first I saw you, I thought
you needed saving. white bloom at my breast,
I placed my fate on libra’s scales alongside
yours. challenged every cataphract in my path
to become prince, bridegroom, holder. en garde,
I had to earn your trust, chivalric. sapphic.
until at last we met. you welcomed me into
your pretty cage: sunlit garden brimming
with roses and pommes d’amour. on bended
knee I received accolade, ate the fruit
offered to me as nightshade with trust.
take my hand, victory is never won by the skill
of one of us alone. our lady of sorrows, may
I wrest the swords from your immaculate heart?
this is not the end of the world. we can transcend
someday, together—no gods, no masters.
Ambrose Albert (he/him|il) is a transmasc poet living on the traditional unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Wolastoqiyik people. His debut collection of poetry Bec & Call (Nightwood 2018) won the New Brunswick Book Awards’ Fiddlehead Poetry Prize and he was Fredericton’s Poet Laureate from 2019-2021. Ambrose’s chapbook mal à l’aise came out with Anstruther Press in 2024. He is currently working on a poetry collection and a novel about a transman experiencing an immaculate pregnancy.
