Toronto – CAROUSEL

Poem

Reading Queer in the GTA (5)

Staff June 25, 2020 Banoo Zan CAROUSEL CAROUSEL 42 CAROUSEL 42 GTA poetry queer Toronto

BÄNOO ZAN The Land of Orange Blossoms * You journey to me I circle your squarelike a pilgrim farewellto Kaaba Your womenin farmers’ market sell me herbs of memoryin floral dresses I’m a babyat their breasts drinking the milk of blood letting go of water Your mentoil in fields ofabundance…

Poem

Reading Queer in the GTA (4)

Staff June 24, 2020 CAROUSEL CAROUSEL 42 CAROUSEL 42 GTA Kamila Rina poetry queer Toronto

KAMILA RINA Imprints Last night, my ass pressed against the sink, the dish drainer rattling behind me, my teeth against your shoulders, your arm holding me up, my skirt pushed up past my hip on one side, the fingers of your other hand moved inside me in an elegant dance.…

Poem

Reading Queer in the GTA (3)

Staff June 24, 2020 CAROUSEL CAROUSEL 42 CAROUSEL 42 GTA Kirby poetry queer Toronto

KIRBY 3:52 PM It’s Wednesday(all this time thought it was Tuesday) adult peeps just off N. Sylvanialast booth on the right ajar construction worker tank jeans wide opencock juts out rigid hard raging lit by moaning straight porn breathtaking says nothing smokes transfixed on screen pretendsthey don’t see me enter…

Poem

Reading Queer in the GTA (2)

Staff June 23, 2020 CAROUSEL CAROUSEL 42 CAROUSEL 42 GTA Khashayar Mohammadi poetry queer Toronto

KHASHAYAR MOHAMMADI Pillow’s Kiss (excerpted from Moe’s Skin) Pillow’s kiss past midnight’s stroke and doze down the fugueof highway tunes. Up, up and away — past mall-lit windows wemigrate between, bootleg DVDs and cider house blues wherehatred blossoms in plastic-bagged opacity, past the hooka-smokinggirls lustfully eyeing lustful men in blue.Feel…

Poem

Reading Queer in the GTA (1)

Staff June 23, 2020 CAROUSEL CAROUSEL 42 CAROUSEL 42 GTA poetry queer Tanis Franco Toronto

TANIS FRANCO I Regret My Actions Up Until Now I rescheduled too many times but I actuallydo like you. This night is reminding methat I want to get over my avoidantnature. Something about those steely cloudsoutside, the fact that my roses have persistentpests, and the man who shot people justhaving…

Special Project

LGBTQA+GTA

Jade Wallace June 22, 2020 Banoo Zan CAROUSEL CAROUSEL 42 CAROUSEL 42 GTA Jade Wallace Kamila Rina Khashayar Mohammadi Kirby poetry queer Tanis Franco Toronto

In 2019, CAROUSEL interviewed five writers whose origins spanned the globe, whose ages straddled generations, whose writing practices crossed genres and genders, but who were all akin insofar as they were then at work making queer poetry in the GTA. The essay based on those interviews appeared in full in…