(Photograph by Frank G. Karioris)

Pieces

i like searching for pieces;
pieces that speak, that sing, that dance,
pieces that earn their keep, pieces that are lustful,
pieces that aren’t peaceful, pieces that pull you aside,
pieces that tell you their full name, pieces that supply the party,
pieces that cost more for lipstick, pieces that are high,
pieces that bum a cigarette, pieces that are strangers,
pieces of stars, pieces for a nickel, pieces puttogether,
pieces that don’t know, pieces broken, pieces reconstructed,
pieces that remind me that i am a piece – just a piece – of
something and not the whole and that that makes me
exactly what i need to be to be who i am.

Frank G. Karioris @FrankGKarioris (he/they/him/them) is a writer and educator based in Pittsburgh whose writing addresses issues of friendship, masculinity, sexuality, and gender. Their work has appeared in wide ranging publications, including the Hong Kong Review of Books, Truth-Out, the Journal of Gender Studies, Maudlin House, the Berlin Review of Books, and Culture Unbound.