after The Queen of Country, Dolly Parton
Drag Queens across the valley
hold their wigs across their hearts
and a dive regular plays Taps
with her acrylics on the bar.
Doves and does alike
put their white away in mourning
and all the hawks of the holler
take a rest from soaring.
We all light up cigarettes
and take a swig of shine,
pass the jar around, and join
the babe in crying.
On the day that Dolly dies
a part of us goes with her,
but well after she’s laid to rest
her rhinestones’ll shimmer.
McKinley Johnson is a Queer Appalachian poet. He knows he should make a website, but he really doesn't want to. In the meantime his Instagram is @mt.mck. While this is McKinley’s first skull, Aaron did tweet his cover letter once.
I (usually) hate writing strict rhyming and/or measured poems!! But, you can’t write about the queen and not make it musical! So I wrote using an ABCB rhyme scheme and a (mostly) syllabic measure (it sounds more fully measured and the slant rhymes feel a whole lot less slanty if you read it with an accent and some Appalachian foothills love)!
