Rae Gouirand
"Everlastings"
Rae Gouirand


Everlastings

Between those uncountable rows of corn
in the middle of Pennsylvania, squares of burgundy,

rose, and yellow cockscomb, fog-wisps
of lapis-blue sage, garnet windows of amaranth,

still upright in the field though they’re drying
there, right there, in the place in which they sprouted

and grew tall. The immortelle, the winged
everlasting, the strawflower, globe amaranth,

kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate, lavender
enough to tip a scale and statice, black sorghum,

white-tipped mountain mint, scarlet amaranth,
blood flower, larkspur, love-in-a-mist, mealy-cup sage,

sunflower in gold or rust, bloodcolor or chocolate,
Joe Pye weed, Queen Anne’s lace in ivory or mauve or

brown. October is a race against frost.
I was due the last day of it; I waited four more days.

Also by Rae Gouirand: "Image," "Before Dark," "Dream Book: Yellow Gingkoes," "First"

A queer poet working in both verse and prose, Rae Gouirand is the author of nine titles of poetry and nonfiction, including Glass is Glass Water is Water (Spork Press, 2018), The History of Art (The Atlas Review, 2019), The Velvet Book (Cornerstone Press, 2024), a 2025 Lambda Literary Award finalist, and Whatever Dimness or Brightness (forthcoming 2026). Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Bennington Review, Conjunctions, Foglifter, The Iowa Review, jubilat, the Lambda Literary Poetry Spotlight, Michigan Quarterly Review, [PANK], The Rumpus, Under a Warm Green Linden, ZYZZYVA, two volumes of the Best New Poets series, Queer Nature: A Poetry Anthology, and many other journals and anthologies nationwide. She leads several long-running independent workshops in northern California and online, including the cross-genre workshop Scribe Lab, and serves as a Continuing Lecturer in the Department of English at UC-Davis. Visit raegouirand.com

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