it is the meek who shall inherit the earth

haggard lambs

broken off from a broken flock

they shall inherit a planet so far from home

as to have been forgotten

& their feet shall kiss the sands under the belief that they have been sent to die

on an unnamed desert object

& though there will be life in the shape of forgotten trees

the nameless shall inherit the earth with their eyes extinct

their hearts buried amidst their tongues

there will be no light for them but this:

the biocrust that has crumbled may yet survive

in the shapes of thistle & sage 

rising between their lips 

after “can androids pray” (2019) by nat clayton & xalavier nelson jr.

sterling-elizabeth arcadia (she/they) is a trans poet and diy tattooer in washington dc, where she watches birds and cares for her cats. she is currently working on a chapbook of queer ekphrastic love poems based on her friends’ instagram posts. her work has been published in Stone of Madness Press, Fuck Your Dreams Zine, and Rejection Letters, and is forthcoming elsewhere.