Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Love in the Time of PrEP
by Jaques Rancourt
To see more clearly, we climb
……….the shifting sands
………………..of Haleakala Volcano.
The guidebook says we might be haunted
……….if the mist & the light
are just right & sure enough,
……….a rainbow haloes my head’s
………………..shadow. Brocken spectre
it’s called & Isn’t this awesome,
……….you, my dorky husband, say.
You are thinking about science again,
……….about how light & water particles
……….……….bounce & interact & refract
against each other, whereas I,
……….the melodramatic poet, see
some paranormal visitor,
……….some queer saint. Back home in bed
……….……….you tell me how in the early ’90s to you
coming out meant either you killed yourself
……….or you died from AIDS
& you chose to come out anyway.
……….Time moves like bluffs,
……….……….like erosion. It flattens
to rift & split. It carves down
……….the precipice like the runoff
we clambered up to find
……….the path already deteriorated.
……….……….I hiked in just flip-flops
& when a thong broke
……….I hiked in bare feet.
Let’s go back some day. Let’s go back
……….to where the ocean’s panorama
……….……….was endless & shimmering,
where the violets bursting forth
……….were reminders that the world
will go on generously without us.
……….In bed, I kiss you between
……….……….your shoulder blades & say,
I’m glad you’re here. North of us,
……….two freshmen are skipping class.
They are learning. They are taking turns
……….taking each other raw,
……….……….as if they alone are discovering
something new. As if none of this
……….ever happened.
Copyright © 2021 by Jaques Rancourt. This poem was published in his collection Brocken Spectre (Alice James Books, 2021).
About the Author
Jacques J. Rancourt is the author of two poetry collections, Brocken Spectre (Alice James Books, 2021) and Novena (Pleiades Press, 2017), as well as a chapbook, In the Time of PrEP (Beloit Poetry Journal, 2018). Raised in Maine, he lives in San Francisco.
Queer Poem a Day
- Day 1: Self Portrait as a Body, a Sea by Donika Kelly
- Day 2: Birthday Suits by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
- Day 3: Obsessions by Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué
- Day 4: The Baby Inside My Baby by Nomi Stone
- Day 5: To Be Saved by CM Burroughs
- Day 6: At the New York City AIDS Memorial by Stefania Gomez
- Day 7: Love in the Time of PrEP by Jaques Rancourt
- Day 8: The Morning After by Ellen Bass
- Day 9: Argument of Situations by Shangyang Fang
- Day 10: Ode to Sneakers by Tory Adkisson
- Day 11: Boombox Ode: Enjoy the Silence
- Day 12: Soon by Makshya Tolbert
- Day 13: Photograph by Jenny George
- Day 14: Salt Lake City by Christian Gullette
- Day 15: Humpty Dumpty by Spencer Reece
- Day 16: The Antihero by Megan Fernandes
- Day 17: On Growing Bored with Synonyms for the Apocalypse, I Rename It Carl… by C. Russell Price
- Day 18: All My Friends are Sad & Bright by Cameron Awkward-Rich
- Day 19: 2000 miles and this is the love letter I send you over text by Noa/h Fields
- Day 20: Book VI from The Queerness of Eve by Emilia Phillips
- Day 21: Oracle by Ari Banias
- Day 22: gxrl gospel iv: beast of a southern wild by Aurielle Marie
- Day 23: Let There Be Pride by Richard Blanco
- Day 24: Jacob Riis Memorial Beach by Stephen Ira
- Day 25: from Dependence, the Joistrix / How you are made by Emily Martin
- Day 26: The Need for Repitition by Jim Whiteside
- Day 27: Arm’d and Fearless by Julian Gewirtz
- Day 28: Polyamory by Madeleine Cravens
- Day 29: GPOY as Rainbowfrog.gif by Aerik Francis
- Day 30: Gay Epithalamium by Benjamin Garcia
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
