Give a bold 
stroke in brown
or black 

femme American 
traditional lines 

to uphold 
rizz, music 
bizz, key 

and sailor jerry
non-conformist 
moshy moves

and drag queens

give me the ink
give me the pin

up girls and panthers 
to say my body is not 

for you to see 
it is for the legacy 

art motif and canon 
been a looker

sexy circus queen 
been a suiter 

paint me up
in pinks and golds
lavender and rose 

serve a house
of kings down

and work a piece 
like Maud or Hull 
been transforming 

what you seen 
on the scene 
since before punk

before Captain Cook
but we tattoo it on
make it new

like baddies rollerskating
like butchy babes in auto
or factory and stems and studs

under the hood of my car
every kind of body for 
the artwork, for the ways

to say 

I am my own
home of tradition 

you’re just lucky enough 
to witness  

the heirlooms of fem tradition. 

---

Prompt

In a two pages, write a poem in which you explore your aesthetic traditions and reframe them as heirlooms, as part of your legacy as a work of art yourself. Consider your fashions, vernacular, home décor, physical maneuvers, and/or/all style choices. Use at least 3 allusions as well. Happy writing ❤

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Lin Flores lives and works in SLC, Utah as a full-time poet and creative writing student. They are an MFA candidate in Poetry at the University of New Orleans and a reader for The Bayou Magazine. In 2023, Lin won the Andrea Saunders Gereighty / Academy of American Poets Award.