Lesbian Visibility Day is one of two internationally recognised days dedicated to celebrating lesbians - the other is Lesbian Day on 8th October. Lesbian Visibility Day is championed by Diva Magazine in the UK, whose website states that the aim of the day is “both celebrate lesbians and show solidarity with all LGBTQI women and non binary people in our community. We believe in unity, and lifting up those who are most marginalised.”
Grace Shelley
Stand between me and the sun like an eclipse
Stand between me and the sun like an eclipse,
but in a hot way. Cast your shadow
onto my skin like a bee sting on a Venus flytrap.
I know you’re not supposed to look an eclipse
full in the face but baby I want to see your
stellar corona. Burn my retinas baby, but
sexily, like a sunflower tucked behind Medusa’s
ear. Lean down to adjust my collar like
lava kissing trees as it rubenesques down the
mountain’s creamy thighs, baby,
you’re a savage neon orange wave I want to
sink my fingers into even if it burns them off. I’m
making you sound so dangerous but you’re not,
or you are but only in the sense that
you’ve cracked my whole life open baby like
squeezing a walnut between two metal teeth
and then the handle slipping and giving you a
blood blister and curling up on your grandma’s
knee and saying it’s the worst Christmas ever,
until she takes the walnut in her sturdy hands and
cracks it for you,
only as dangerous as that. You can crack my
life apart like a nut anytime you like, baby,
but in a good way, don’t get me wrong,
in a hot way.
Grace Shelley (she/her) is a writer and teacher from Tāmaki Makaurau. She edits Overcom, a literary journal which publishes work by queer writers and artists. Her writing has appeared in Bad Apple, Mayhem, Milly Magazine, and Tarot.