Words:
- Elegant
- Contrarian
- Decay
- Duck
- Radishes
- Pearl
Ingrate
They feed me on quince paste and duck à l’orange,
on salads of endive and radish and pear
on mille-feuilles and sherry and cherry pavlova.
They dress me in cufflinks and elegant gowns,
in cummerbund splendor. They coif my grey hair.
They drape me in satin and pearls and chiffon.
I hate their decor and their fine, scented soap
I’ll splatter their monogrammed curtains with slop,
unravel them, bury them, let them decay;
I’ll pestle their pastry, proscuitto, pâté,
parboil them down to a pasty purée,
commingle them into contrarian soup,
then let myself loose in the meadow to gloat
as nude as a daisy, as free as a goat.
Mild-mannered philosophy professor by day, poet by night,
Ray Briggs teaches at Stanford University, where they also host the syndicated radio show Philosophy Talk. They are the author of the poetry collections Common Sexual Fantasies, Ruined (Cordite Press, 2016) and Free Logic (University of Queensland Press, 2013), as well as the co-author of the zine Modern American Gods, Volumes One and Two (2018, with Anna Zusman) philosophy monograph What Even Is Gender (Routledge, 2023, with B. R. George).
Anna Zusman immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union when she was twelve. She currently teaches drawing and illustration at Southern Arkansas University. In her artwork she questions stereotypes and conventions. Anna regularly participates in zine festivals and exhibits her art around the US. She is a creator of many art books and zines including Mermaid Heritage (2014), Men from Dating Sites: Volume 2 (2019) and Modern American Gods Volumes I and II (with Ray Briggs, 2018).
http://www.annazusman.com/
