Katie Rank

Lancelot of the Lake

He is the ideal knight, for his love of her

shaped the kingdom’s entire destiny. 42 years,

the life expectancy for someone with sickle cell.

 

That gives him seven and a half years. I only know

chosen death, so I kiss his stomach and dig my hands

harder into everything I’ve come to believe in

 

below the tender spot. Can I touch you here?

Touch me everywhere, he says. To some he disgraces

the ideal of stainless chivalry. To me, he is the last

 

messenger, driving his truck east until

he stops here and stays for ten years. We’re both

coming home, tending to this most attractive

 

and splendid city. The things we go through

to live north. He likes when I worship the scars

under his chest, the small bits of hairbehind

 

his ears. For you. To sip at your leisure. After his

lord’s undeath, Lancelot becomes a priest. I don’t need

to pray. I know already of the inevitable spring.

 


Katie Rank is a writer, dancer and self-defined ethical slut living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her poetry has appeared in All the Women We Have Loved, a community art project exploring queer female relationships and The Impossible Archetype, an online literary journal. She is currently working on several creative projects that explore the intersection of eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and queer sexuality. She is an eating disorder survivor, as well as a decaf coffee drinker, and graphic novel enthusiast.

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