Queer Cliché re: Carabiner by Brooke Bianchi-Pennington
- VFORROW
- May 13
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 6
It’s cliché to say, but
on the days when we sway
in the breeze, suspended
in the trees, I’m seized
with speechless wonder.
When we lie back,
a hammock between,
carabiner clinging,
two bark-covered giants,
lending their strength so
we can float, my mind
suddenly stills, a primal peace.
As if, before we were human,
our ancestors felt the comfort
of balancing in the branches.
And you’re like that—
a safe place to rest my eyes,
blinking open to brightness,
another cliché—your bright,
blue eyes, the sky—
something so commonplace
can sneak up on you. So,
I reach out a hand, grounding myself,
placing it on your soft body.
A queer cliché—a woman
describing the softness,
her girlfriend, but you are
soft, and everywhere
our bodies meet, we sink
into each other, no longer
carrying the weight of
bodies alone.
Cliché, but true—I love you
because you are strong
enough to be soft.
And I know you
can carry me but also be
carried. It’s brave
to lie back, a piece of cloth
stretched between, swept off
our feet, losing contact
with solid earth.
Our love is this,
rest of the brave,
and it’s cliché,
but let’s stay, sway here—
suspended.
ABOUT:
Brooke Bianchi-Pennington is a queer American writer and educator currently living in Taipei, Taiwan and working in experimental, international education. Her academic work in the literacy field focuses on New Literacies and censorship. In her non-academic life, her writing interests focus on the ways in which language, place, and the material world shape identity, emotion, and connection. You can find her and her work at brookebianchipennington.com.
EDITOR'S SONG PAIRING: Hudson Lee --- Suspended (ft. Lhasa Petik)
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