“Pink Fur Purr” by Deirdre Maultsaid
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Pink Fur Purr” by Deirdre Maultsaid.
Pink Fur Purr
By Deirdre Maultsaid
I was sorry for the mercy sex,
but humans hunt humans.
You wished to be a lady with a parasol:
pure and ethereal. I was fiendish and real.
At 5, I had a cat doll with a wire hoop skirt
covered in faux black fur.
I could unzip her skirt and fold my pajamas inside.
Look at her stiff matron’s smile. How I despised her.
At 5, I ran down the alley: the smell of hay,
the golden twilight. I found my body.
When we made love, you cried at finding your body.
The bridal princess is dead.
This is your body: your sweaty pelt.
You are hungry. You fiend, you fiend.
I will take you through the Rijksmuseum
Until you are blissful and spent and full.
You want it: demure naked ladies,
Cloaked virgins; Oh, that is the Milkmaid.
We will come upon van der Helst’s “Adriana”.
She wears orange ringlets, a cape and a bead broach.
Everywhere on her gown, in her hair,
on her ruffled sleeves, are rows of pink tufts.
I will tell you about my silly pajama cat.
We will giggle and laugh.
I will keeping saying “fur”.
You will keep purring.
Here will be Fendi’s “WombTomb”, a 2-metre long
chest covered in faux fur of cream and green.
It will pulse with a flamboyant power.
The vulva on the lid is thick plush pink fur.
If you could lift the lid you would see the paradox:
the womb tomb holds only one human.
I will say, “the tensions, the duality”.
You will purr and agree.
Tensions will bring on the great pink Queerness.
You will be safe and you will be undone by my caress.
Copyright © Deirdre Maultsaid
Previously published in Impossible Archetype, an international journal of 2SLGBTQ+ poetry.
Deirdre Maultsaid (she/her) has been published in 3 Elements Review, Canthius, CV2, Filling Station, Grain, Marrow, Prairie Fire, the Puritan, Riddle Fence, untethered, White Wall Review and others. Poems have appeared in the anthologies Worth More Standing: Poets and Activists Pay Homage to Trees (Caitlin Press) and Resistance: Righteous Rage in the Age of #Metoo (U. of Regina Press) and others. Deirdre Maultsaid is a white queer writer gratefully living in Burnaby, Canada on unceded traditional Coast Salish Lands. She teaches at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. More information at deirdremaultsaid.dot.com and @deirdmault.bsky.social.
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