Impervious

1 Minute Read Time

Someone stops over unannounced like the old days, 
so I pop open that bottle of Sancerre I’ve been saving.
Talk turns to carp that reached the roadway
after Thursday’s three inches of rain, how some said
Invasive, let them die, others said Naturalized, 
let them live, someone asked for a net and
                                                                           others said 
they’d catch them with their hands. I could
never do what the raccoon does, tossing
pink petals, or could I? We go to the club that 
turns gay only on Saturday nights. In the morning, 
I’m still gay, thank god. But the rain, it’s returning.

Oliver Baez Bendorf

is a poet, artist, and the author of three books of poetry. His most recent collection, Consider the Rooster (Nightboat Books, 2024), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the CLMP Firecracker Award, and the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, and was named one of the best poetry collections of the year by Electric Literature and Lit Hub.

His previous books are Advantages of Being Evergreen (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2019), winner of the CSU Open Book Prize, and The Spectral Wilderness (Kent State University Press, 2015), selected by Mark Doty for the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize. His hybrid work includes poetry comics, drawings, and a self-published zine on gender-affirming surgery. His honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and CantoMundo, and the Betty Berzon Award from the Publishing Triangle.

A dedicated mentor and educator with over 15 years of experience in the classroom, Oliver has served on the faculty of programs including the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Born in Iowa in 1987, he holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2025, he entered exile and is currently living, writing, drawing, and teaching somewhere on Earth near water.

Return to top of page

Search