men call the golden steppes of russia
death on a rocky crag

how many blessings to see this land

i removed a tombstone
gathering snow in my hands

how beautiful are the weakest
stars—forgotten by monks
some thousand years ago

found poetry, source material: The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice (1998), page 212
appears in heretic bastard

Originally from Georgia, Caseyrenée Lopez relocated with their family to Virginia in the summer of 2017. Caseyrenée works as a professor of English at John Tyler Community College. They are the author of two full-length collections of poetry, the new gods (Bottlecap Press, March 2018) and i was born dead (About Editions, October 2018), as well as a chapbook heretic bastard (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, forthcoming). In addition to teaching and writing, Caseyrenée also edits Crab Fat Magazine and publishes poetry and experimental work by queer and trans people at Damaged Goods Press. They tweet @caseyreneelopez.