IT GETS YOU THROUGH

 Rhienna Renèe Guedry

Last years’ costumes laid to rest in attics and above

armoires, all shimmer of sequins and

plume of feathers hand-glued, our creations

now downy with mildew, stained

in ways we’ve seen on the walls of every

home we’ve said grace in.

After the waters rise—

was a flood just one too

many road drinks poured down the front of

something?

—a hum like a beehive, then

silence, the water swells, umber and

grey, it sloshes and ruins and recedes.

Some came to town for carnival and

never left; locals learned how survive storm

after storm, kept afloat on the promise

of a next year, and next year’s

costume, an investment as earnest

as seeds in the ground.

Rhienna Renée Guedry is a queer writer and artist who found her way to the Pacific Northwest, perhaps solely to get use of her vintage outerwear collection. Her work has been featured in Empty Mirror, HAD, Oyster River Pages, Bitch Magazine, Screen Door, and elsewhere. Rhienna is currently working on her first novel. Find more about her projects at rhienna.com or @chouchoot on Twitter.