Poetry: “Praise Kink” by River 瑩瑩 Dandelion
Praise Kink
my existence casts a spell
for my purpose is breath
i was born to be divine
the life i desire, inevitable.
my purpose is breath
for i am made of light
the life i desire, inevitable
my existence, a gift to earth.
we are made of light
saviors to our own pasts
our existences, gifts to earth
stories, salves for generations.
savior to my own past
oil cells i caress & kiss
generate salve in story
dignify delivery come dawn.
i caress cells oiled in kisses
shimmer flame in pulsing pupil
deliver dignity come dawn
groan wellspring of sorrow.
shimmer flame in pulsing pupil
cry, i was born to be divine
bemoan wellspring of sorrow
cast spells into existence.
About River 瑩瑩 Dandelion
River 瑩瑩 Dandelion (he, him, keoi 佢) walks with his ancestors. He is a practitioner of ancestral medicine through writing, teaching, energy healing, and creating ceremony. As a poet, he writes to connect with the unseen and unspoken so we can feel and heal. As a shamanic energy healing practitioner, he guides people through transformation. Winner of the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ Writers, River is the author of remembering (y)our light, a debut chapbook on honoring matriarchs and ancestors across generations. A Tin House resident, Lambda Literary fellow, and Kundiman fellow, River facilitates creative writing workshops, where participants connect with their own inner and collective power. He has taught at Rutgers University-Newark, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, Restorative Justice Initiative, Lambda Literary, Museum of the City of New York, and elsewhere. Thrice-nominated for Best of the Net, River's work is published or forthcoming in Apogee Journal, Beloit Poetry Journal, Best New Poets, Bellevue Literary Review, The Margins, Mizna, The Offing, Asian American Journal of Psychology, and anthologized elsewhere. He loves to swim and does this work for queer and trans ancestors and descendants to come. For more, visit: riverdandelion.com.