By Briana Armson
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“The River Sylvia” is an ode to Sylvia Rivera and contains mention of violence against trans women, specifically police brutality.
For Sylvia Rivera
There’s something about the hoop
on your jumpsuit, like a high sun hanging
over sand dunes taking shape, that’s made
your voice a river I’ve been free-swimming in,
and your brothers and sisters better fucking
quiet down now – because Marsha bobbed along
the Hudson upright and tall; because Amanda’s throat
was a tulip, bleeding open at the bus depot; because the cops
claimed your face as their Consummate Punching Bag;
because when your scare drag got you staked, Trier; Salem;
Scotland; Würzburg all burned and wept. Fifty years on,
I would’ve hoped you could enjoy your peace – whatever
weather you wanted; soft banks beneath your feet.
Instead, I’m gutted to report the Bitch on Wheels
must keep spinning – There can be none
without everyone, says you, in gravel
goddess tongue; rousing
the dead, bracing the living.
Briana Armson is a writer, DJ, and event organizer from the Maritimes. Currently based in Toronto, she’s fuelled by queer community building and the catharsis that comes from poetry and dance. Her work has appeared in Pinhole Poetry, Superpresent Magazine, and fifth wheel press.
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