Mal du Siècle
Published in Forbidden Flowers by Voice Lux Press
It’s such a disappointment
that everything ends up being about power.
But what can one do?
Call the front desk and ask for more pillows?
Pompeii is overrun with selfie sticks
livestreaming the Temple of Jupiter
through a filter of Technicolor fog
until it looks like a Hollywood musical.
In the midst of such irony and decay,
I’d like to become a woman in a black veil
speaking an untranslatable language.
How dare you assume you understand me.
They say there’s no coming back
from a burgeoning interest in occult imagery
and the truth is, I can’t disagree.
Fate writes the best poems
and this one coiled and unfolded like a snake.
It’s tail in its mouth,
never quite knowing where to end.
Copyright © 2023 Carmen Cornue. All rights reserved.