"Swagger and Swoon

 

 

By Anne Hasenstab

Hawthorne Fellow 2012

 

Anne Hasenstab’s poetry has recently appeared in a handful of literary magazines including Sou’wester, The Naugatuck River Review, The Avatar Review and Cavalier Literary Couture.  Anne earned an MFA from Fairfield University, is the Founding Editor of The Honey Land Review and is currently working on her first full-length poetry manuscript, Flock

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Yevtushenko is a ladies’ man,

the revelation came 

as I begged an autograph

post-reading of The Kissing Inn

which made me buckle, 

forty years his junior and

suddenly poet’s prey.

 

Seduction is buffoonery at best,

a funhouse mirror distorting sight, 

that tickle of joy exposed in the 

bend and break of the norm.

 

It is a man draped in Swazi mud cloth,

newsboy tipped cunningly to the ear,

a holy rumpus of flesh and poetry

beating from a boney frame.

 

It is the unexpected deliciousness

of “hot champagne” and the promise

that deep within the subway dank

there lies the perfect place to kiss.

 

It is the thaw upon thaw of Siberian nights

and my own melting as he pulled me near,

planted a kiss and penned:

To Anne:

My admiration since a first look.  

 

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The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters opposes the legitimation of bigotry, hate, and misinformation. As a studio for writers, we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. We embrace and celebrate our shared pursuit of literature and languages as essential to crossing the boundaries of difference. To that end, we seek to maintain a creative environment in which every employee, faculty member, and student feels safe, respected, and comfortable — even while acknowledging that poems, stories, and essays delve into uncomfortable subjects. We accept the workshop as a place to question ourselves and to empathize with complex identities. We understand that to know the world is to write the world. Therefore, we reaffirm our commitment to literary pursuits and shared understanding by affirming diversity and open inquiry.