three poems
by Piper Rasmussen
Birth of The Queen
The vision of a Queen appears (see also: milagro, fantasma)
as if from the center of a fluffy white cloud
(see also: oscurecida, desaparecida)
a hatched idea,
fully-formed, Athene & gamine
ant-waisted (see also: corsetry in Spanish colonies)
A crown of braided chitin
a hard, dark eye
mandibular sharpness (see also: obsidian)
She wears with pride her
fine scarlet stockings,
all six of her legs
shrouded with mist that’s been dyed
in her own fresh blood (see also: DIY, fiber arts, preservation techniques of the Andes)
I am the one in the white mist
with vision obscured
I can only tell what I see
textbook-laden (see also: anthropology of the 1950s)
of this red-trousered ant
(see also: Pachamama, Casimira, Zulma Yugar)
in her infinite variety (see also: Cleopatra)
the margin note says: “See Me”
My humility lives in my liver
I know this because tonight
heading home from the bar
in my particular state of drunkenness
and youngness
and foreignlanguageness
every stranger’s half-heard comment
is about me. Or at least
about my new native-looking
sweater-poncho thing
which I bought at the morning street market
and which still smells of
someone else. Though I am
headed back to a temporary bed
to drink plastic bottles of water until I believe
I can survive tomorrow,
locals are just starting the night
chatting at tables in my path:
…¡Casi una nativa!...
…Uniforma…
…Más makeup en la bolsa –…
and everything they say
is somehow about my face
and body which
is all that matters
about me –
and I believe it all.
Must be because
my humble liver is busy
washing something out of me.
OLSE (Other Languages for Speakers of English)
The romance of my languages has been
a set of slutty summers:
and so I must write badly,
disculpe,
sing, “[Disculpa]me Mucho”, &c.
My children are by many fathers.
and like many families
we are mutually unintelligible.
Todos, trebuie să spun
Я не понимаю
Una limba o otro.
Give directions alli, allá,
sometimes aquel or acollo
lost to quickdraw speech.
Chant, "da" at ze futbol game
and get a good laugh.
"Eres de alemania?"
Jaja, nein, pero…
Everywhere I go I seduce
another few words –
Commitment? Ah, no, sorry, I'm
Holly going lightly to Rome
just Ye Olde Amerikanke
understanding ja mata.
My only regret: the words I bring home
and neglect,
put to use & set loose,
ashamed
of their promiscuous mothering-tongue.
Photo of Piper Rasmussen
BIO: Piper Rasmussen (she/her)'s poems have appeared in Shot Glass Journal, Hare's Paw Literary Journal, Kyoto Journal, Writing The Land: Horizons, and others. She works from Manhattan, in spite of her cats' efforts. piperrasmussen.com