If They Are a Silueta by Melissa Buzzeo

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend February 8, 2017   If They Are a Silueta   Melissa Buzzeo

after Ana Mendieta   If they are a silueta  But I can't make out where one begins and Ends   If in the breakdown of the body there Is nothing but smoke   If I get inside it And try and make love to what is there and Not there If I feel that it wants me anyway But I am trying hard for it to not be an It but a they them he she initials and stars            Copyright © 2017 Melissa Buzzeo. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "The silueta is the shape that Cuban-American land and performance artist Ana Mendieta made famous in negation and also references the sculptures of women found across so many different ancient cultures. It is both the goddess and everywoman; it is featureless, just a body—or in Mendieta's take the body emptied (or outlined or echoed) in presence and absence and part of an artistic collaboration of care across time. This poem, part of a larger section called 'If I Am a Silueta' moves from the 'I' to the 'they' and is from a manuscript in progress, a poetic memoir called 'Writing.'" —Melissa Buzzeo   Melissa Buzzeo is the author of The Devastation (Nightboat Books, 2015). She teaches at the Pratt Institute and lives in Brooklyn, NY. Poetry by Buzzeo   The Devastation (Nightboat Books, 2015) "Three Fragments of Instan" by Cecilia Vicuña "from Pinplay" by Anne Carson "Of Shock" by Nicole Cooley Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. If you enjoy Poem-a-Day, please consider making a donation to help make it possible. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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