Hello, and a triolet
001: Manifesto
Since publishing a collection in my lifetime is becoming increasingly unlikely, I thought I’d vanity-post some of my favorites to Substack. First, this succinct intro to my œuvre:
Manifesto
I’m sick of songs of victimhood — stuff that I don’t want to write. My work will preach that life is good! I’m sick of songs of victimhood. My muse, though, hasn’t understood, and only sends depressing shite I’m sick of — songs of victimhood. Stuff that. I don’t want to write.
First published in The Asses of Parnassus (Feb 29, 2024).
Although this triolet is not in direct response to Caravaggio’s “Saint Matthew and the Angel,” his depiction of inspiration literally moving a writer's hand almost always comes to mind when I think of muses. (Perhaps because my own muse might be as lethargic — and possibly nauseated? — as this one.)
No color photographs were taken of this painting before it was lost in the 1945 Flakturm Friedrichshain fire, but this black and white image shows Caravaggio's trademark use of chiaroscuro. My poetry also contrasts darkness and levity.
Cheers,
Julie