Nora Maité Nieves, Somos Más, 2019. Acrylic, resin, pigment, gold-leaf, coarse pumice, modeling and fiber paste on wood panel, 48.5 x 60.5in. Image courtesy of the artist.
essex station
by mal profeta
after apollinaire
one day i was waiting for myself i said mal
it’s time for you to come so that i might know myself
i said just because your name means misfortune
doesn’t mean we have to
cardinalsand what do the others have to say i asked
well the cheesemonger said it’s ok
to be indecisive with these things it’s part of the deal
the hairdresser said just think of the years
you carry in that long hair
the old man gynecologist said this is kind of kinky isn’t it
the other old man gynecologist said isn’t it interesting
how we become who we are
perhaps who we’ve always been
the meditation teacher said the mind is luminous
except for the torments that visit it
the therapist said insight is overrated
the neurologist said there are many sources to your pain
the dead friend said a stone’s throw
the stepfather said there’s nothing wrong with you
or your sister but homosexuality is still a sin
the internet said the most expensive liquid is scorpion venom
the debt collector said don’t be sorry for your past
the comedian said the sound of the patriarchy
is a woman gagging on a cock
my father said he’d break my arm
he said the gun was empty
my mother said we leave relationships in stages
rilke said to fling out my emptiness
sharon said to kiss my own wrists
on the train platform i was still waiting for myself
while everyone said these things
it was today and not today
in the way that everything is ongoing
mal i said
mal
mal
mal there’s nothing wrong with the loves in your heart
cardinalsi knowcardinalswe said
i’m trying to get my selves together
i’m trying to get it
[ postscript:cjust as the train was leaving]
oh mal i said
one more thing
the sound of the patriarchy is not
a willing woman
deepthroating a cock
the sound of the patriarchy is
an earnest woman
praying to god
Published November 15th, 2020
mal profeta is a writer, editor, and public health advocate. they are completing an mfa in poetry at nyu and currently work in a clinical/translational science research center that focuses on addressing health disparities in appalachia. recipient of the fugue poetry prize, their poems can be found in the aesthetica international creative writing anthology, the offing, prism international, sand, zyzzyva, and elsewhere.
Nora Maité Nieves is a Brooklyn-based artist and curator, who was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nieves received a BFA in Painting from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico and an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While regularly exhibiting her work in Puerto Rico, Chicago, and New York, Nieves has also shown in Florida, Wisconsin, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, and Sweden. She has been an artist in residence at The Cooper Union School and Unisex Salon in New York, High Concept Laboratories in Chicago, and ÁREA: Lugar de Proyectos in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Nieves was interviewed by BOMB Magazine for her 2019 exhibit, Full Moon in the Sun Room, at Fresh Window Gallery in Brooklyn. More of Nieves’ work can be viewed on her website.