Author: Hayden Winston

Hayden Winston is a multilingual, bisexual, Caribbean writer and activist. His work draws on his experiences growing up in Los Angeles as the queer son of West Indian immigrants.
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Ode to Cigarettes

No regrets,

although, I have to let you go,

We’ve been together since …16?

hurt,

happy,

wild young thing,

and you holding me,

caressing the night air like silk.

Every time we’re together

  I

fall,

choke on nothing,

head light,

s p i n n i n g,

Don’t cry my dear,

this is our sweet end.

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An Afternoon in Muir Woods

Green, endless green,

Sunlight dripping in through canopies of redwoods –

Birds, wasps, and bees buzzing about,

leaves at peace in the breeze.

green, endless green,

soul at ease.

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(Dis)affected.

Pay my taxes,
punch the clock,
Raise my own hell,
don’t do you no harm.
Get off my back man,
take a minute,
hurry up!
Last cigarette,
I promise.
Running around,
pure electricity,
Keys in the front door,
sweet relief.
A day in the wilderness,
calm release.
Otherwise, its the bourgeois maze.
Gotta form a plan,
get out.
Eternal freedom,
no doubts.

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Valparaiso


For you,
I’d learn to write love songs in Spanish,
Sonnets in Italian,
Haikus in Portugese.

The kindest disposition,
Warm hands, tender lips.

For you,
I write love notes in the morning,
Dance all evening,
And sing until my voice has gone.

The night is young, this moment’s fleeting,
We roam the city while its sleeping.

For you,
I’ll brave the cold, the rain,
Climb cliffs to sit hand in hand,
Hearts open, love flowing.

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Gemini

i.

naked in the woods we lie,

quiet and unafraid;

power doesn’t always rest with those who speak the loudest.

ii.

you see the world through obscured lenses,

dying for your recompenses;

you can’t change others, you can only change yourself.

burn away those expectations,

or you’ll burn yourself out quick enough.