Today's poem is by Virginia Konchan

Bel Canto
       

Inside me is a black-eyed animal
struggling to get out, be free.
Inside me is a failed attempt
at explanation, a frozen pizza,
a botched murder, and a consumptive,
fallen woman heroine. It's not love
until someone is willing to die for you,
or quotes you out of context.
Agony: Saint Joan or another
valorous witch going up in flames.
My transpersonal gender falls asleep
and dreams it is invulnerable.
My metamorphic body falls asleep
and dreams it is inevitable,
this slow slog toward slaughter:
tragic fate of a ruminating cow.
Hand me my stilettos.
Hand me my Ativan,
my floor-length evening gown,
my fainting couch, my spouse.
Today is an envelope of money
I will no doubt squander.
Hand me my opera glasses.
I want to shatter a champagne flute
with my vibrational frequency:
I want to discomfit,
then bring down, the house.

Tweet

Copyright © 2023 Virginia Konchan All rights reserved
from Bel Canto
Carnegie Mellon University Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission