From the Bottom (of my heart, my head)
By Jacquelyn “Jacsun” Shah
I know I can’t, I won’t, I don’t rebel
although the current Top is not correct.
And I am impotent, cannot expel
the Top. It’s spinning like a carrousel
whose platform and its horses are unchecked.
I know I can’t, I won’t, I don’t rebel.
A beast, the Top is hardly like gazelle
or rabbit. Top is something I reject
but I am impotent, cannot expel
the Top. It surely has a putrid smell
assaulting normal noses. I detect,
but know I can’t, I won’t, I don’t rebel.
A bully, Top will badmouth, trounce and quell
perceived opponents, anyone who’s suspect.
And I am impotent, cannot expel
the Top. It’s mad, it’s bad, the Top is hell,
so totally devoid of intellect.
I know I can’t, I won’t expel,
but impious within this villanelle, rebel
I can. Topple Top. It’s wrecked, I ring its knell.
Jacquelyn “Jacsun” Shah, M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D., has received grants from the University of Houston and the Houston Arts Alliance. Shah’s poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies, such as Cranky, Tar River Poetry, The Texas Review, Anon (Britain), Rhino, and Vine Leaves Literary Journal (Australia). Her poetry chapbook, small fry, was published by Finishing Line Press (2017); a full-length poetry book, What to Do with Red, by LitFestPress (2018); and she’s a recent winner of Literal Latté’s Food Verse contest. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her partner Iris and a Persian cat, Eliot. Visit her website.
Photo credit: Manel Torralba via a Creative Commons license.