Continuing our series of getting to know prominent Second Life poets, the following questions were asked of poet Persephone Phoenix with her poem “Superman’s Inamorata” as our featured poem (following the questions) for July 2022. (With thanks to the artist Vita Theas for the image above)
1) What, or who, first motivated you to write poetry?
Michael Moose was a guest artist at our elementary school who introduced us to poems that had messages some small messages and some large messages. We went on a field trip to the forest and sat under trees and then we wrote.
2) What was your first piece about?
Wondering.I was 9 years old and wanted to know why we all had to have rules when we weren’t bothering anyone else.
3) What, or who, is your primary muse today?
Second Life. Documentaries. My friends (Shadow among them). My pesky cats. But primarily, New York City.
4) Who is your favorite poet and your favorite poem?
That is really tough to answer. There are so many I dearly love. I love Sharon Olds’s Ode to a Composting Toilet and Simon Armitage’s The Shout but I have relied, over the years, on Love is Not All by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
5) When is a poem done?
The same as one’s hair is done. Always and never.All it takes is one strong wind. A poem is done when the poet is dead or has forgotten it.
SUPERMAN’S INAMORATA
There is a green world
where the grasses grow from a grid
or sand or snow dusts it
like sugar on a baking sheet.
***
The long street is empty but for lazy cars
napping at its hems
and me walking, looking
for you dear one.
Your beacon shines
***
secrets of your latitude and longitude
but what I don’t know is
your altitude.
***
I whisper to you that I’ve come
that my wrists are raised
for you to grasp
and it’s so good to feel your hands again
even if they are only made
out of words.
© 2022. All Rights Reserved. Persephone Phoenix in Second Life