David J.S. Pickering

You Should Have Lived Among the Lesbian Separatists
                                                            —For T.J.

In that girl’s residential program, I liked
working with the low-IQ kids who got

so mad they shook in whiteout rage,
the ones who set things on fire. I get

that kind of burn—I was once twelve
minutes from being a sociopath, myself.

But I grew up to be a safe man, showed
you some men could be trusted after all

you had borne at male hands. You left
treatment, thrived. Joined a family. Met

a nice boy with glasses and nerdy grin
who knifed you to death one pretty

December day after you told him no.
As I had taught you to do. In another

life I see you gardening the Separatist
land, raising goats and selling cheese

at a farmer’s market, your plaid flannel
set off with silver chains and wary smile,

a loaded .22 in your backpack.

David J.S. Pickering is a native Oregonian, born and raised in the working class of the North Coast. His first poetry collection, Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland, received the Airlie Prize in 2020. His poetry may be found in a variety of journals including Cirque, Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, Passager, Tar River Poetry, Mantis, Lips, Reed Magazine, and Gertrude. David lives with his husband in Portland where, even as you read this, he has likely had too much coffee.