“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.” Khalil Gibran
Author Archives: Virginia Valenzuela
Motion
Every Sunday the Knight walks the Princess to the train Her gait soft like a penumbra His legs light like fire. Every Sunday, the Knight walks the Princess to the station, she always makes him wait. He waits gladly. She waves a wand her eyelash; he sings into her ear. She rewards him. Within aContinueContinue reading “Motion”
What is a thing?
Does it hinge on a string? Does it call itself Miss or Mister? Are things between things also things? Like flings? And what about their shadows? Do they do things—sweet or sinister? Would a drop of water make it grow? Would a drop of water make it sink?
A Pass-A-Poem by Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and Wallace Stevens
Violet sky—black nebulous— Something in the atmosphere— Crooning—Purple— The Color of Pleasure Purple—Royalty among things. and things in things are things are things and things..two things. three things. purple things…with wings. Sings of something fantastical. Like a violet sky. Yes: like Beauty of the Mind.
Fury
Delightfully mad and sad I am So true, so true! Ignited by your humanity, and my insanity ensues. Forsooth! Such famous fury and surely, you’d feel it too— for if not I’d be all alone in this, my visionary tune!
Speak (for Octavio Paz)
You spoke of a city brimming with unspoken reality dusty skulls shimmering in forgetfulness exposed by the darkness of memory. You spoke of prayers that forgot their meaning reminding us that words are only as potent as the sound in the mouths that say them— but even sound itself can be silent. You spoke ofContinueContinue reading “Speak (for Octavio Paz)”
The Crisis
Hark!— The subway trains are toast packed to the brim with some of the most imbecilic trolls. Hands and feet in between the closing doors. Priority seats taken up by twenty-something-year-olds. And countless homeless souls begging greedy pockets for a quarter. We have a courtesy crisis on our hands! And no enforcement to behold. OnlyContinueContinue reading “The Crisis”
“The Blessing” Live @ Bowery Poetry Club
Words and lyrics by Virginia Valenzuela. Music by the Bowery Trio. All rights reserved.
Chapter Two
Shall I compare the beginning of my new life To a box full of lightbulbs? A bundle Of firewood one buys in late summer? What I am trying to say: I am coated in darkness. But I have Potential. I am barricaded by my own self But I am at least well put together. AndContinueContinue reading “Chapter Two”
He Says
I’ve been fighting a lunatic A ludicrous maker of little white lies An avid fantasizer of little legs, And Bambi eyes, with shallow heads * He says he can give me everything I say, make me a better woman Because I’m sickened by my diet Because I’m silenced by ignorant ears Because I’m different inContinueContinue reading “He Says”
Virginia Valenzuela 