http://i-hunger.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] i-hunger.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] greatpoetry2007-08-07 04:10 pm
Entry tags:

Canary

Canary -
Rita Dove


Billie Holiday’s burned voice
had as many shadows as lights,
a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,
the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.

(Now you’re cooking, drummer to bass,
magic spoon, magic needle.
Take all day if you have to
with your mirror and your bracelet of song.)

Fact is, the invention of women under siege
has been to sharpen love in the service of myth.

If you can’t be free, be a mystery.

[identity profile] kristeenamarie.livejournal.com 2007-08-07 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
said beautifully.

and sadly.

[identity profile] iatrogenicmyth.livejournal.com 2007-08-08 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
what if you can be neither free nor a mystery?