by Jana Astanov
the literary womanhood
and the rhetoric of historiography
travel in my back pocket
like a bunny that hops
between the coffee shops of Amsterdam, French cafes, London bars
and the strings of lovers
and
my sexy Alice doll jumps
Montaigne, Tasso, Cervantes, Rabelais,
Corneille, Lafayette, Shakespeare, Camões, Rimbaud
and their deadness
I decode me with your
complex dickiness
early modern romance
is an
arrogant cruel private boy’s club
Alice the Medusa won’t turn you into the stone
she’ll exchange telepathic dreams
through hexagon temples
inscribed by Ninhursag oracles
in aquamarine
herstory-spirals
of heart and mind.
About the author
Jana Astanov is an interdisciplinary artist, a poet and an independent curator living in the Shawangunk Mountains. She is the author of five collections of poetry: Antidivine, Grimoire, Sublunar, The Pillow Book of Burg, and Birds of Equinox. Follow her on IG @Jana_Astanov & Twitter @JanaAstanov
