Jenna Cardinale
These three poems by Jenna Cardinale may be short, but they are hardly small. Each evokes a certain and specific setting, and the settings are meant to unsettle us. In fact, the strength of these tight, sinewy verses seems to surge from the way she lets her lines dance around images of vague danger. And she writes with the wisdom to spill only the significant details, the grim, sad, wrenching images that situate us in the middle of each scene. Those alone tell enough of any story. In “One I Remember” Jenna writes: He couldn’t spell, couldn’t stop / drinking pink bodega wine. / He couldn’t fuck, didn’t know how to / get on the plane… Those are well-crafted specifications, perfectly timed. These poems hurt your heart a little to read them. And isn't that poetry's purpose?
Thanks, Jenna.
***
Diet of Violence
The fruit in the sangria hangs
in my throat. The last time
I swallowed it, he held me
hard against a wall. Among women—
this time— I order soft
cheese and salty water.
Not still, but safe.
***
This Age in this Town
We still go to the movies, watch
nervous rituals and wet skin—
Tibetan food, go-
cups of old wine & sex
talk— We live
on the outskirts of this.
Invisible without
lipstick. Without the eyes
of dangerous young men.
***
One I Remember
His bad skin and cinnamon
gum sticks seem synonymous now.
He wore my dresses and lipstick.
I just asked.
He slept in my twin
bed with me, without touching.
He disappeared into the usual
drugs and bad tattoos.
He returned to me, my city, but thought
the French bread was stale.
He couldn’t spell, couldn’t stop
drinking pink bodega wine.
He couldn’t fuck, didn’t know how to
get on the plane, get on with the growing
up—
I bought that ticket, too.
I remember this one only
because there haven’t been that many.
***
About the Poet:
Jenna Cardinale is the author of Journals, a chapbook from Coconut Recent work appears in LIT, No Tell Motel, and fourW. She lives in New York with K. and a dog named Maybe.
On the identity of The Nepotist:
The Nepotist may have intentionally stolen my idea. But it's all about action.
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