[6.01 / January 2011]

Three Poems


My Understanding of Love Between Women—or—La Macchina da Cucire…

is a show seen on YouTube. You watch
paper clothes stapled onto a naked woman
with an upholstery gun. Her mouth sewn
closed with a hand needle. In the back-
ground, string instruments strike dissonance.
A voice repeating the body is dead. But
you see her blink. Another woman acts
upon her. With each stitch you see them
unite. She is obviously in pain. Other-
she, obviously considerate of this pain. Each
flinches slightly at contact, but does her best
not to acknowledge the ins and outs of thread.





My understanding of love from a man—or—The Rubber Boy (born same year as I, 1979)

A reconstructed text from Marc Hartzman’s American Sideshow

Straitjacket routine done backwards—he first did it
to lose his job. Now, he is famous for escapes into
restraint: World’s Only Living Enterologist. Self

discovery: at age 4, he fell from his bunk-bed
and landed split in half. Then books with pictures—
contortion for pleasure—mimicry as hobby.

Final act: dislocates hips and shoulders, rearranges
ribs, drops heart below sternum, so an Audience
can watch his heart beating.







My understanding of love of self—or—What I can Recall from the Film, The New Sideshow

Lucyfire says,

I ask the audience if they want blood. Always
the answer is Yes. Until bleeding—
then they all yell
no, no.

The act in summary is this:

With a syringe she pours herself into a cup
and drinks. She makes this look like
hunger’s first contact with
consumption—lips so
erect you can see
her mouth
pulsing.

Lucyfire says,

I had a normal childhood, maybe spent
too much time alone
with a book—
of matches.


Nicelle Davis lives in Southern California with her son J.J. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Broadsided, Front Range, FuseLit, Moulin Review, ML Press, The New York Quarterly, Offending Adam, Picture Postcard Press, SLAB Magazine, Superficial Flesh, Transcurrent Literary Journal, Two Review, and others. She’d like to acknowledge her poetry family at the University of California, Riverside and Antelope Valley Community College. She runs a free online poetry workshop at The Bees’ Knees Blog. Artist Cheryl Gross has an MFA in New Forms from Pratt. She writes: "When asked about my work, I always equate it with creating an environment transforming my inner thoughts into reality. Much like an architect or urban planner, that reality and humor becomes the foundation of the work. Cheryl now resides in Jersey City.