Eileen Tabios
From The Ashbery Riff-Offs
—where each poem begins with 1 or 1-2 lines from “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by John Ashbery
Witnessed in the Convex Mirror: Raging Against the Dying Light
The explosion is so precise, fine
And the sun’s eye so unrelenting
But, afterwards, picking up the wily
fragments of wine bottles thrown
against rock walls, he is unsure who
should feel humiliated. When a sliver
cuts his finger, he looks at the blood
drops tip-toeing on tile and wonders
“Do I deserve that?” Someone yelled
but another yelled back. Suddenly he
understands horses and dogs—how
unexpected erections embody fury
For, against the wildest bout of
something-or-another, the inevitable
outcome becomes one of deflation
a whisper to one’s drooping ears:
a self already cringing at mortality
Eileen R. Tabios has released about 50 collections of poetry, fiction, essays, and experimental biographies from publishers in eight countries and cyberspace. Her most recent include The Opposite of Claustrophobia (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press, 2017) and Amnesia: Somebody’s Memoir (Black Radish Books, 2016). Forthcoming poetry collections include Mantattan: An Archaeology (Paloma Press, 2017). Inventor of the poetry form “hay(na)ku,” her poetry has been translated into eight languages. She also has edited, co-edited or conceptualized 12 anthologies of poetry, fiction and essays as well as served as editor or guest editor for various literary journals. More information is available at eileenrtabios.com.
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