Eleven More American Women Poets in the 21st Century: Poetics Across North America

C Is for Cher

26 | Eleven More American Women Poets in the 21st Century B Is for Beckett There is so little to say. C Is for Cher Culture miniature and clad as Cleopatra, she descends A set of semicircular steps Tiled in a geometric mosaic pattern And there she finds the answer: everything Changes depending on whether You’re up or down. Behind her, A high-relief rectangle proscenium; Beside her, whatever intrigued her last. An unofficial fan leaps feverishly into action. At that, She seems to multiply. History will be filled With the shower of dots that will become her. At that, she becomes. It’s complex. Through the glass she sees a pair of dazzling slippers. At dinner her drink was called a Vladimir, Hers was the plate that contained Washington oysters. There she held a fork. There she was on a stage Of discourse. Of course. Mickey Mouse comes over And stops to stare. Cher is dressed in a long gold dress. The sequins form stripes. “If I could turn back time.” She’s singing. And Mickey in his red pants is acting Like the goodwill minister to an enraptured world. Mary Jo Bang | 27 Mickey thinks. He turns the corner. To the gift shop: ever open. He buys retractable mother-of-pearl opera glasses As a present. Yes, it’s over. The present. In which you discovered forward-thinking thought. In the Present and Probable Future Here we are viewing the land: waves of grave and grain. That slight tremor? A house settling. A violent past walking through. And over there, the burning deck. The political machine. The inanimate come to life. The conventional flag wave. Cormorants on pitched roofs watch the ship of state mandate folded Twice over. Many ingenious lovely things are gone. This turbulence. This Coming one-two march through a landscape created. The dark relative against the brilliance of the last act Of some staged production. The cast bows. A tape player click, click, Clicks. Some kind of clock. A unit of measurement. We wish ourselves back on the boat. Wish for the answer To the question: When should we walk out Of the theater into the night? When should we accept that life is only An exaggerated form of special pleading, romanticized ...