THIS FAR COUNTRY

By Connell O’Donovan


I have perched precariously atop slickrock fins and seen such Beauty in this far country. 
I embrace it with my skin, my blood
And in return the desert does not forget my sweat.
But she also calls out to me, “Your heresy here runs as thick as honey across my sands.”

I have choreographed my way through aspen groves here that are older than God, 
chanting memories and whispering love spells to this land.
And in return the forest clings to my arms like some wild, parting lover but reminds me
that I have no welcome among this people. 
My queerness is too colorful, too
sad, too deep, too decadent for those trapped here by 
the patriarchal grip of our state motto: 
Fecundity, Mediocrity, Hypocrisy.


Connell O’Donovan is a historian, biographer and professional genealogist. He is currently working on the history of female impersonators in Utah from the 1860s to the 1930s, as well as a film documentary on the double suicide of two young Mormon lesbians in Salt Lake City in 1926.