I'm excited to be reading with my better half, the fantastic poet Elaine Equi, this coming week at DIA. Here's the info:
Poetry Reading
Elaine Equi
Jerome Sala
Thursday, May 24th
6:30 PM
DIA: Chelsea
535 W. 22nd St.
5th Floor
$6 general admission; $3 DIA members, students and seniors.
For full description, click here.
As a preview, here's one of Elaine's poems -- followed by one of mine:
THE POLITE ONES
have stolen my identity.
Robbed me of my naturally
murderous vitality
with their cagey emptiness.
Oh! I will smother them
with this turquoise cushion.
Mash it against
their perfectly outlined
crimson lips.
But later I will apologize.
-- Elaine Equi
from her book, Click and Clone
IT'S NOT TV
Khalisi, the queen of the barbarians,
joins her husband on the funeral pyre.
Before walking in she says to her devotees:
"I am the daughter of the dragon.
If anyone harms you, they will die screaming."
The witch who betrayed her is tied to the pyre too.
She says: "I won't scream." Khalisi: "Yes you will.
But I don't want your screams, just your life."
When the branches have been burned
and all the agonizing screams have been screamed
Khalisi is still kneeling there, unharmed, naked
except for some ashes where her clothes have burned off.
The dragon eggs thrown into the fire with her
have hatched. A baby dragon sits on each shoulder.
In the book, one is nursing at her breast.
-- Jerome Sala
If you're around NYC and free, hope to see you there. For more info on the reading and DIA, click here.