the irresistible bruce jenner

what if there was something you had to do; to climb?

A mountain.

No, a mountain would be too obvious.

Too predictable.

What if each time you saw

the enlargement of yourself

with black hair

you saw the faint outlines of Hedy Lamarr,

dark and lovely

only this time blown apart

by age and allure?

We believe the serpent

could fascinate its prey.

We believe that although

some folk survived Superstorm Sandy

the ones who did

secured themselves to

the richness of roots

grown from courageous trees.

Hush! TURN THAT UP,

THATS MY JAM! When self love

enters the largest room of the house.

When the canonical, simplest form of

something sings its slow tunes

to complication,

then everything squiggly and winged

resembles handwriting.

I saw again the girl with the over-talc

chest at Happy Pizza but this time

I touched her hand -

timeless things unlock inside of me the

same mechanical switch. Don't you get it?

It means that beauty is transitional,

timelessly unfading in

this maddening short life of

actions unbranched.

Not so sensible to us

is how easily, Oh spellbound,

the spelt birds fly

free.

Reviews

[Cory Barrett]

Happy's Pizza. If the speaker had a moment of transitional beauty there, then bruce jenner could be a goat.

On a random note, i am listening to death cab for cutie. As i write this on line resonates from the song.

"you are beautiful, but you don't mean a thing to me." It doesn't have to mean a damn thing to us, none of us beauty is ours to consume. It can only quench the one thirsty for it. Strange game this life.

[The Twin Arenas]

Bruce did what we all should. Change. Here's to being human. Amazing poem, Dana. Stripped the material of all but truth.

[Blotted Ink Productions]

LOL! Title got me! Ended up being a great poem. You have a way with words. Throwing sarcasms. I love it!

[Emily B]

the world is changing and I so hope it is for the better
much love to bruce jenner, and the She emerging. Better late than never and what an inspiration to all of us

[W.k.kortas]

That's Hedley.

For some reason, the final stanza reminds of a cartoon I saw of Walt Whitman exhorting a bald eagle sitting on a perch to fly, and I wish I could tell you why.

What strikes about this piece is how large it is, in the sense that it does not begin with that which is personal, a small kernel from your life which then builds to something which is global, sweeping; the initial subject matter (for Jenner has become, for better or worse, public property) precludes that. That is an observation, and certainly in no way a criticism. The sweep of the piece--from Hedy Lamarr to Sandy and back again--is impressive and then some, but the piece never gets away from its author at all. Beauty, and all else, may be transitional, but work such as this endures.

[Lyn Anderson]

I like this from title to finale. Much debate this topic engenders. Thankfully, most of us don't ever have to debate it in anything but a theoretical manner.

[Brittany Zedalis]

I fully believe in what Jenner is doing. She had to live her entire life as the person she really isn't, and now she can finally be who she is meant to be. She can shed the "he" pronoun and embrace life. I really like the very last stanza, and I agree with Jacob in saying it's very deep. Write on! :)

[Coyote Poetry]

A interesting topics and thoughts. I believe people need to keep private when they want great change. I like your flow of thoughts. At least writers can write and most of us are safe from the public view.
Coyote

[Delmar Cooper]

It's a shame when a famous NASCAR driver like Bruce Jenner demeans himself by wearing high heels.

I think the poem is far beyond excellent and if you changed the title to merely "Irresistible" it would still be excellent. Put this one toward the front of your "collected works of" or leave instructions to your executor.