Golconda Fort
By Rebecca Ruth Gould
The night show begins.
You pass me the mosquito repellent.
Yellow phosphorescence bathes the ruins bright.
Plaintive moans lament
Aurangzaeb’s attack.
The ancient fortress crumbles.
A doting husband photographs
his pregnant wife
covered in a saffron hijab.
I mention I am unmarried,
& your hands squirm over my breasts,
plundering my body.
You thought being single
made me your prized possession.
In fact the opposite is true:
the less tied I am to a man
the less point there is
in having sex with you.
About the Author:
Rebecca Ruth Gould is the author of the poetry collection Cityscapes (Alien Buddha Press, 2019) and the award-winning monograph Writers & Rebels (Yale University Press). She has translated many books from Persian and Georgian, including After Tomorrow the Days Disappear: Ghazals and Other Poems of Hasan Sijzi of Delhi (Northwestern University Press, 2016) and The Death of Bagrat Zakharych and other Stories by Vazha-Pshavela (Paper & Ink, 2019). A Pushcart Prize nominee, she was a finalist for the Luminaire Award for Best Poetry (2017) and for Lunch Ticket's Gabo Prize (2017).
About All Accounts:
All Accounts and Mixture is an annual online feature celebrating the work of LGBTQIA+ writers and artists. For this series, we seek work from authors who self-identify as "queer," while acknowledging that this designation is subjective and highly personal. Our goal is to provide a forum for writers whose voices might be mis- or underrepresented by the literary mainstream. Submissions are open from June 1 to July 1. Poetry, prose, visual art, reviews and interviews will all be considered. Visit Submittable for more details.