year of - Elle Cantwell

year of

impasse and circumstance in search of a blowhole
year of sonata in the key of goddamn
awful year of cosmic rebellion and karmic
reckoning of masked random anomie
of sexist abandon year of civil fatigue
at its peak and pine year of hindsight
of bombast and firestorm in burnt orange year
of ratatat infographic of unlucky numbers
crawling on all fours at sixes and sevens year
of surrender of howl and beg for table scraps
for mercy year of sick as a dog eat dog
whistle dog tired to the knick knack paddywhack
let’s not put a label on this year yet but
can i be a feminist and still call you bitch

Originally published by High Shelf Press 2021

Elle Cantwell is a graduate of the MFA in Writing program at the University of San Francisco. Her poems have appeared in Ponder Review, December, Welter, HAD and Barrelhouse, among other publications. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and is a winner of the Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize. A freelance theatre director, educator, and editorial specialist, she lives in Santa Monica, California.