American Beauty (1999) // The Virgin Suicides (1999)
All the girls say they are women. Woven
like terry cloth. Straddling groins to watch
sternums gargle moans. All the men never
stop singing, “Because,” by the Beatles.
Crossed. Mouth gaped. Confusing sap
for home. Even, I, caught in the snare
traps of Calvin Klein spandex, lap up sweat.
Delighted blood was tantalized by sculpture.
Storytelling, in American standard definition:
rose gardens, tragedy, no blacks faded in.
Copper girls like me don’t get a character
arch. Some skulls splatter mid dialogue.
That’s the mirage of the screenplay. Imitation
meat. Men appearing as if they will hold
themselves accountable.
//
Of course it is the boy’s decision, to cut
the silk strings webbed to his cleats. I forgot
who the fabric belonged to, he’ll fracture
his jaw to whisper. Lawn mower precision.
Coached by fathers with as many ex-wives
as lawyers. Teen girls, obsessed with pink,
must adore dying for the bad boy band
mullet, I guess. & Only suburban moms
can covet God with no perspective
of their childhood–of the man she leaked on
top of, that allowed four girls & a father
to happen. Apparently, depression finds women
while football field grazing in jockstrap juice &
glass shattered collar bones. It’s nobody’s fault,
men who narrate girls to travesty will say,
while masturbating into yearbooks
during their funeral calls. Girls just dive
towards the grave. Hatchet buried in
their wings as accessory.
O how romantic.

Golden (they/them) is a black gender-nonconforming trans-femme photographer and poet raised in Hampton, VA, currently residing in Boston, MA. Their work deals with the intersections of blackness and gender within the construct of America. Golden is a 2017 Pink Door Fellow, the 2018 House Slam Grand Slam Champion, the 2016 NYU Grand Slam Champion, & was apart of the 2017/2018 NYU CUPSI Championship winning team. Their work has been featured on/at the Shade Journal, the Offing, i-D, Interview Magazine, & elsewhere. Golden holds a BFA in Photography from New York University. Website: mylessgolden.com. Instagram: mylesgolden. Twitter: mylessgolden.