S. Fey

fake i.d.

—for Gaia Rajan

the world opens for you like a box

of takeout. let’s eat. you dream

in couplets & you’re so tall

ly towering up into peanut butter

clouds, the kind of fluffy jealous

men will shake their flimsy manuscripts

at. people will stop shouting the number 16

at you because they can’t count with a light

like that in their eyes. your new license

says unbounded. you’re no teenage dirtbag baby,

you’re the prettiest tree on the mountain,

miles from my window. i look for you every morning

when i have tea. you’re the satellite

i’m wishing on. mostly hoping you’ll share

that takeout, seriously, i’m still a barista

& i’ll make sure your cup is full

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Statement of Homage

Gaia Rajan is one of my absolute favorite poets. She inspires everyone who knows her with her brilliance, and never fails to lend the kindness of her eyes on poems when I ask her to look them over. Gaia is a key component to my poetics; there would be less community in my life without her. Her collection, Moth Funerals, is one of the best chapbooks I've ever read, and it is only the beginning. I'm lucky to write in a world where Gaia Rajan is writing alongside me.

Gaja Rajan

Gaia Rajan lives in Andover, MA. She's the co-founder of the WOC Speak Reading Series, the Junior Journal Editor for Half Mystic, the Web Manager for Honey Literary, the Managing Editor of The Courant, and the Poetry Editor of Saffron Literary. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in the Kenyon Review, Tinderbox Poetry, Muzzle Magazine, DIALOGIST, Split Lip Magazine, diode, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, Moth Funerals, is out now from Glass Poetry Press, and she is a National Student Poet semifinal. She tweets @gaia_writes.

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