The Golem Discusses Lycanthropy
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
(for Alder)
The Golem knows that monsters are kin, but not all monsters were created equal.
She thinks inequity is a problem, then leaves with the werewolves to have dinner.
The werewolves are even more misunderstood than the mermaids, she says.
It’s not her place to speak for wind or waves, but to breathe with fur and scales.
The day after tomorrow, the Golem will trip the light fantastic, and all hell will break loose.
I’m looking forward to it, and so might you, being electrical and all.
No escaped balloons hurt the birds or atmosphere in the making of this motion picture.
Whenever you want, she can show you how to shift shape.
What Happened Next
Arthur Rackham visited us recently, and asked the Golem if sushi was on the menu.
It turns out that some of the werewolves were fairies Arthur knew.
Eating sushi in hindsight is a kind of fission, I’ve been thinking, or maybe it’s mitosis.
We might have some miso, later, and you are welcome to join us, before we split.
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Magic Trick
(listen to the poem, read by the author)
You don’t know it’s your birthday
but I do
it’s the first time
I think I tear banana peels
vertically by hand
to soak them
in coffee grounds
I’ll feed to snow
this afternoon while the cake
doesn’t arrive though I tried
I visit the drawer
with your mother’s can opener
the egg separator watches me
so does the potato scrubber
as I move the cherry pitter
to be closer to the strawberry huller
like they might care
as if their intimacy is mine to have
maybe it is true we all vanish
but I won’t ask
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About the Author
Diane R. Wiener became Editor-in-Chief of Wordgathering in January 2020. A poet since the age of seven, her first full-length poetry collection, The Golem Verses, was published in 2018 by Nine Mile Press. Her poetry chapbook, Flashes & Specks, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. Diane’s poems also appear in Nine Mile Magazine, Wordgathering, Tammy, Queerly, The South Carolina Review, Welcome to the Resistance: Poetry as Protest, Diagrams Sketched on the Wind, and elsewhere; poetry is forthcoming in Jason’s Connection. Diane’s creative nonfiction appears in Stone Canoe, Mollyhouse, and The Abstract Elephant Magazine; her flash fiction appears in volumes 2 and 3 of Ordinary Madness. After serving as Guest Editor for Nine Mile Literary Magazine’s Fall 2019 Special Double Issue on Neurodivergent, Disability, Deaf, Mad, and Crip poetics, Diane was appointed as the magazine’s Assistant Editor. The Founding Director of the Syracuse University Disability Cultural Center (2011-2018), Diane now serves as a Research Professor and as the Associate Director of Interdisciplinary Programs and Outreach at the Burton Blatt Institute (Syracuse University College of Law); she also teaches in the Renée Crown University Honors program. Diane has published widely on disability, pedagogy, and empowerment, among other subjects. She is a proud Neuroqueer, Mad, Crip, Gender Nonconforming, Jewish Pantheist Nerd (etc.). Diane blogged for the Huffington Post between May 2016 and January 2018. You can visit Diane online at: https://dianerwiener.com.
The poetic form Wiener creates in “The Golem Discusses Lycanthropy” is a tribute to Marvin Bell’s Dead Man poems. This poem is part of a new Golem series, in-progress. The Golem who communicates herein manifested initially in The Golem Verses by Diane R. Wiener (Nine Mile Books, 2018). The Golem has also shown up in other work by the poet.