The lake at sunset

is the color of a trans flag. Here we are: two

          salty bitches, refusing to apologize

for our stank. Don’t mind the flies, honey.

          They don’t harm nobody. Like you,

our microbes have learned how to survive

          where almost no one else can.

We outlast salt crystals and desert

           theocracies. Got peeps saying

we might even survive on Mars, boo!

           You know we always been alien.

Here, the male bison will mount one another

           just as much as they do they gals.

You ain’t seen eyeliner till you seen

           our grebes, don’t know laughter

less you been out tricking with coyotes.

           We got cowpies better than the hair

on some of these legislators.

           Our eyes are the most glamourous

mirrors and they mad they still ugly.

          Tell Jay the real jays called and said

ain’t no such thing as a cute billionaire.

           You got tar on your hands, Cox.

You got tar on your face, Jeffrey Holland.

           Me, I got a beaver, swans, avocets,

butch-ass bison, a city full of queers

           and natives who know my real

name. You want hoops, I got a whole jetty.

           You want a flag, look into the sky.

Who you know got all these birds

           a-flocking all the way from Canada

to la pepita de Chile? Who you know

           as feathered, as hooved as

my people? Who you know die

           this beautiful but us?

“Blue, Pink, and White” won the 10th annual Alfred Lambourne Arts Program award in literary arts in 2023. The program is an initiative by Friends of the Great Salt Lake to bring awareness and protection for our beloved lake.