Audrey Carroll
Audrey T. Carroll (she/they) is the author of What Blooms in the Dark (ELJ Editions, 2024), The Gaia Hypothesis (Alien Buddha Press, 2024), Parts of Speech: A Disabled Dictionary (Alien Buddha Press, 2023), and In My Next Queer Life, I Want to Be (kith books, 2023). Her writing has appeared in Lost Balloon, CRAFT, JMWW, Bending Genres, and others. She is a bi/queer/genderqueer and disabled/chronically ill writer. She serves as a Fiction Editor for Chaotic Merge Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Genrepunk Magazine. She can be found at http://AudreyTCarrollWrites.weebly.com and @AudreyTCarroll on Instagram/Bluesky.
Easy read of the poems in the images above:
Ophelia’s Revenge
Poem contains blackout to hide select words and show the following poem:
doubt
this good
heart
as ungracious
and thorny
a reckless
primrose path
all the holy
have been so affrighted!
Pale knees knocking
And with a look
As if loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors—
truly I do fear it.
a little shaking of mine arm,
And thrice his head thus waving up and down,
it did seem to shatter all his bulk
And end his being. That done,
I denied
His access to me.
I was the more deceived.
I, of ladies most wretched,
suck’d the honey of his music vows,
sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh;
Blasted with ecstasy. O, woe is me
T’ have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
Pray love,
remember.
And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead;
He is gone, he is gone,
mercy on his soul!
James Bond is Gay
Social media screenshots appear before the poem containing homophobic comments.
in another universe / where he does laundry and taxes with a romcom heartthrob / who is most definitely not the Alfred to his Bruce / and, in that universe, Bond plays among us with honorary-gay Natasha Lyonne / in another universe, James Bond never reveals his sexuality / to anyone, letting them assume, using his signature weapons of charm and sex appeal / on any able to help him with the mission / in another universe, 007 is the worst fears of mediocre white men: mixed race, a lesbian with no time for their bullshit, a wheelchair user everyone underestimates / until it’s too late / and just think of the kinds of gadgets and guns this James Bond can hide / in armrests and footplates / but this version of 007 is too interesting (strange?) (unexpected?) for a particular crowd / that prefers women to have sex / and die, men to be white / diversity only stretching as far as the Scottish border / If bond goes gay that’s the end of the movies for me / in this universe, gays can’t be spies / because they draw too much attention / and where would Bond pack the Pride parade / when he has to jet to France or yacht off to Russia / the agenda is ridiculous / Who cares what you want it to be, that was not the original concept! Let it go / Why does everything have to be gay stop pushing this shit at us / Why does that shit have to creep into Everything? / would 007 ever sacrifice / his drag queen glamor / for the sake of traveling light? / it’s the gays who need attention / not the straight white men in comments / who fear an ever-dwindling relevance even in THEIR culture / You won’t like it when the world’s real men gets tired of you pushing things to woke… / what next? / a Bond who knows BSL? who’s south Asian? who has a lover waiting for him back home? / what next? / subjecting normal moviegoers to the epitome of masculine cool / KISSING and CUDDLING another Grown man in a KING SIZE BED / [so uncreative—they missed a chance to joke about two queens] / I think it is about time that we stop caring whether someone is gay or not. It doesn’t matter! / they forget that / in this universe / nobody knows how to keep a secret / like the alphabet mafia / in this universe / a trans person knows how to code switch, how to assess who to trust, how to get information and disperse it to the right people / only true queers know all 70k+ genders and pronouns / World is going to shit. It was Adam & Eve……. / a secret: don’t be shocked / but clutch your pearls, if you must / I wouldn’t be surprised if, in this universe / and in others / 007 was actually genderfluid the whole time / an m-spec M16 never letting anyone know / the real they/them
The Bigotry is Bigger on the Inside
Poem appears in the shape of a Tardis.
I will never ever watch Dr Who ever again! This episode has driven me to utter despair. I have been a massive fan and supporter of Dr Who over the years through thick and thin. These latest stories and characters ( including the Doctor) are now so totally ridiculous that I am now switching off after over 50 years of following. Why does the BBC need to pander to the minority he/she, they/them agenda? It’s pathetic!!!! // Noooo! The Doctor does NOT kiss anyone. [Author’s Note: Please ignore the 41 entries in “Individuals who have kissed the Doctor,” including the character Rogue.] The Doctor does NOT have emotional relationships (and certainly not sexual) with anyone. 😱😱😱 [Author’s Note: Please ignore all companions and the 9 entries in “Spouses of the Doctor,” most famously Professor River Song.] // Russell T has finally destroyed Doctor Who. Sure making him a woman ok. But then we go full black and GAY. Im gay and I. Just sick or Russell going full QUEEN with everything. [Author’s Note: No one tell him about “The Green Death” (1973)… or The Highlanders (1966)… or Matt Smith… and definitely not David Tennant. One can only pearl clutch so tightly before causing oneself harm.] // Worse doctor who series ever When the doctor goes Gay That’s the end of the series Just absolutely Woke rubbish [Author’s Note: In this case, the series ended with the reboot’s series 1 finale “The Parting Of The Ways” in 2005.] // This is not Doctor Who, it’s a woke bastardisation. // Why is doctor who gay now? Do we really need something else gay? [Author’s Note: GLADD found only 8.6% of scripted primetime characters in their study of tv programming were gay, a 2% decrease from the previous year and the lowest since 2017-2018.] // I Guess BBC & Dr Who are celebrating Gay Pride Month
