Author/Uploaded by Brenda Shaughnessy
Contents Cover Other Titles Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Contents Saeculum I: Moving Far Away Tell Our Mothers We Tell Ourselves the Story We Believe Is Ours The Impossible Lesbian Love Object(s) On The Shaded Line by Lauren Lovette Who Sings Whose Songs? On Loss of Feathers by Ursula von Rydingsvard On Romeu, “My Deer” by Berlinde De Bruyckere For the Matter to Mean and the Meaning Ma...
Contents Cover Other Titles Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Contents Saeculum I: Moving Far Away Tell Our Mothers We Tell Ourselves the Story We Believe Is Ours The Impossible Lesbian Love Object(s) On The Shaded Line by Lauren Lovette Who Sings Whose Songs? On Loss of Feathers by Ursula von Rydingsvard On Romeu, “My Deer” by Berlinde De Bruyckere For the Matter to Mean and the Meaning Matter The Artist Jessica Rankin She Stands The Poets Are Dying Afterlife Urv Predicts the Pres(id)ent What Have I Done? II: Coursework III: Tanya I: What are we if we stop II: “You”—my friend I made and lost, I did not write III: An old spark may stay true, if you want IV: If only humor weren’t so desperate V: Is there an empirical me ruling VI: I learned new hell on my own VII: If you scratch the surface of writing VIII: To fill a page to open a mind IX: Your need is yours, I’m not grateful X: “Ruin” is “I run” XI: That taught me to read other friends later: if they bailed XII: Locked in, every key sets two free Acknowledgments Landmarks Cover Cover Title Page Table of Contents Start Copyright Print Page List i ii iii iv v vii ix x 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 Also by Brenda Shaughnessy The Octopus Museum So Much Synth Our Andromeda Human Dark with Sugar Interior with Sudden Joy THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF Copyright © 2023 by Brenda Shaughnessy All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto. aaknopf.com Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Shaughnessy, Brenda, 1970- author. Title: Tanya : poems / Brenda Shaughnessy. Description: First Edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. Identifiers: LCCN 2022023543 (print) | LCCN 2022023544 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593535936 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781524712273 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593535943 (ebook) Subjects: LCGFT: Poetry. Classification: LCC PS3569.H353 T36 2023 (print) | LCC PS3569.H353 (ebook) | DDC 811/.54—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023543 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023544 Ebook ISBN 9780593535943 Cover artwork: Mirror, 2022 by Clementine Keith-Roach / P·P·O·W, New York Cover design by Janet Hansen ScoutAutomatedPrintCode a_prh_6.0_142789174_c0_r0 For my mother, Mitsuko Higa, my first artist The strange thing, on looking back, was the purity, the integrity, of her feeling for Sally. It was not like one’s feeling for a man. It was completely disinterested, and besides, it had a quality which could only exist between women, between women just grown up. —Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway I paint flowers so they will not die. —Frida Kahlo CONTENTS Saeculum I MOVING FAR AWAY Tell Our Mothers We Tell Ourselves the Story We Believe Is Ours The Impossible Lesbian Love Object(s) On The Shaded Line by Lauren Lovette Who Sings Whose Songs? On Loss of Feathers by Ursula von Rydingsvard On Romeu, “My Deer” by Berlinde De Bruyckere For the Matter to Mean and the Meaning Matter The Artist Jessica Rankin She Stands The Poets Are Dying Afterlife Urv Predicts the Pres(id)ent What Have I Done? II COURSEWORK III TANYA I What are we if we stop II “You”—my friend I made and lost, I did not write III An old spark may stay true, if you want IV If only humor weren’t so desperate V Is there an empirical me ruling VI I learned new hell on my own VII If you scratch the surface of writing VIII To fill a page to open a mind IX Your need is yours, I’m not grateful X “Ruin” is “I run” XI That taught me to read other friends later: if they bailed XII Locked in, every key sets two free Acknowledgments _142789174_ Saeculum She was Woman of the Year that year. She got a plaque. The next year they—those who chose Woman of the Year each year—canceled the award for the foreseeable future. It was decided that I Moving Far Away I hear they’re trying to make borders in water now, to declare it a place, impose a shape, dissolve the solvent. It’s no solution to our probable problem: I’ll never see