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: The Scent of a Melting Iceberg
There is no other way, and those assholes
who would confuse everything with their
mirror games rub over bullet holes and layer
paint heavily as if the punctures blossomed
on insensate walls rather than a culture hard-
fought into birth. There is fact (gunshot) and
alternative-fact (new paint job). There is fact
(gunshot) and alternative-fact (“No one was
killed”). There is fact (gunshot) and alternative
-fact (“No one was even born”). But the problem
with a martyr is the people who enact someone’s
martyrdom. They form a culture that survives
bullets and a president’s proclamation: bullets
are simply egg yolks. Folks, let us not extend
the metaphor—let’s discourage the evolution
of a politician’s paint job into metaphorical alkyds
that, cheap and easy to make, expand the
expanse of alternative-facts. Let’s call a spade
a spade. Let’s call a bullet a tip of the iceberg
melting to threaten everyone with its polluted
waters replete with tar-perfumed carcinogens
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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