CAELAN
ERNEST
THESE CURLS, THEIR FANGS
FIRST EUPHORIA I FELT
SNAKES DOWN MY BACK
THESE LEATHER WAVES
TURNED MINE BEAST
EYES ENGOLDENED
BACK THEN
EVERY MAN
I LASSOED
WITH MY TWIN BRAIDS
COLLECTED THE GLAM’R
THEIR CARCASSES
CUM LAY WITH ME
STIFF & DRY
DEGENDERED
THE SNAKES
O GLAM’R SHOT
IT’S TIME
WILL YOU
ONCE YOU
LOOKING
STONE BEAST
WE ALL KNOW
THIS HAIR OUTCURLED
LIKE MEDUSA
WITH THEIR VENOM FANGS
INTO STONE
BEFORE THE BEHEADING
I SEIZED ALL
EACH OF THEIR TEMPLES
THEIR RICHES
PULLED THEM CLOSE
EACH BOY BLOWN
BECOME RAT FEED
CARESS MY NAPE
DECOMPOSING SKIN
FROM THE DECAY BUT
WRITHING
CAPTURE ME JUST
FOR MORE FEED
FLINCH OR FEAST
REALIZE YOU’VE BEEN
THE WRONG WAY
IT’S ME
HOW A SNAKE’S VENOM SEETHES
Caelan Ernest (they/them) is a nonbinary poet, performer, and thingamajig living in Brooklyn with their cat named Salad. They are the author of the collections night mode (2023) and ICONOCLAST (2025), both from Everybody Press. They hold an MFA in Writing from Pratt Institute. They are a publicist at Graywolf Press. Find them on socials @transputation.