You bloom at the edge of a spring, riparian. Across the water, a cave with two mouths. One speaks in [[poetry]] and the other in [[music]].
[[Words]] have been carved into the stone between the two mouths.
Someone left a stack of (link-repeat:"zines")[(open-url:'https://gumroad.com/smbess')] in the grass nearby.
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(if: $music is "true" and $poetry is "true")[(live: 4s)[The air smells like [[honeysuckle]].](stop:)]You trace your fingers along the letters carved into the soft limestone.
"Sara Bess grew up in the rural mid-south but she doesn't live there anymore. She was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in poetry and a recipient of the Bryn Kelly Scholarship. She won the 2019 Peach Gold Prize. Her poems have appeared in Paint Bucket, Nat. Brut, Witch Craft Magazine, The Wanderer, Plenitude Magazine, and elsewhere. She's a co-editor at The Wanderer.
You can find her on (link-repeat:"Twitter")[(open-url:'https://twitter.com/achenesense')] if you haven't already."
You take a step [[back->An Idyll]].(set: $poetry to "true")
You enter the mouth of the cave, swallowed by poetry.
(link-repeat:"Radical Trans Poetry vol. 1 – Five Poems")[(open-url:'https://www.patreon.com/posts/28134379')]
(link-repeat:"Peach Magazine (2019 Peach Gold Prize) – Elegy for L'homme")[(open-url:'https://www.peachmgzn.com/sara-bess')]
(link-repeat:"Paint Bucket – Cold Chicken on the Oregon Trail")[(open-url:'https://www.paintbucket.page/2019/05/cold-chicken-on-oregon-trail.html')]
(link-repeat:"Nat. Brut – Two Poems")[(open-url:'https://www.natbrut.com/sara-bess')]
(link-repeat:"Witch Craft Magazine 4 – Hatch (print)")[(open-url:'http://www.witchcraftmag.com/shop')]
(link-repeat:"Emerge: 2017 Lambda Fellows Anthology – Two Poems (print)")[(open-url:'https://www.amazon.com/Emerge-2017-Lambda-Fellows-Anthology/dp/1985384361')]
(link-repeat:"Plenitude Magazine – Springfield")[(open-url:'http://plenitudemagazine.ca/springfield/')]
(link-repeat:"Crab Fat Magazine – Oklahoma Garbagescape")[(open-url:'http://www.crabfatmagazine.com/article/sarah-bess/')]
(link-repeat:"The Wanderer – Inheritance/Six Poems")[(open-url:'http://wandererpoetry.com/inheritance-by-sarah-m-bess/')]
You take a step [[back->An Idyll]].(set: $music to "true")
The cave diverges into three chambers.
(link-repeat:"solo work")[(open-url:'https://sarabess.bandcamp.com/')]
(link-repeat:"moonmakersunion")[(open-url:'https://moonmakersunion.bandcamp.com/')]
(link-repeat:"flotsam and debitage")[(open-url:'https://soundcloud.com/smbess')]
You take a step [[back->An Idyll]].You follow the scent to a ruined wooden fence. Most of the rails have fallen, leaving a trail of disconnected posts and rotting lumber. What's left standing has been claimed by vines blooming with white and yellow flowers.
You wander [[back->An Idyll]] to the spring.