print previewback VIRGINIA KONCHAN
Helen Keller at the Rodeo
To despair is to no longer have
experiences, except the idea thereof—
to be cosseted in a black cape,
immune to both sights and sounds.
It’s watching you watch the matador
taunt the bull with the veronica maneuver,
the selfsame motion of a woman of faith,
who wiped the face of Jesus while he walked
to Calvary. Lord, we all crave release,
be it at the ring in Cheyenne, Wyoming
or along Orchard Road, in Singapore.
The world is a welter of homonyms.
How does one finally arrive, get born?
I am writing your name as if I were a Trojan
who expected someone else to smooth the shore. 