Wendy Cannella: “What Can Happen to Women and Men”

 

What Can Happen to Women and Men

							Honey honey the call is for war 
							And it's wild wild wild wild 
							—Patti Smith “Ask the Angels”

I never met an angel
I didn’t like. 

The one who knits hats
for newborns,

the one humming delusions
to the broken world,

forlorn angels
pacing the room,

pulling out 
their own wings,

feather 
by feather,

stone angels
crumbling beneath

the pure 
arch of love,

even the worst angel
there ever was,

I liked him especially,
with his motorcycle

and stolen jewelry,
his murderous thugs.

I rode with him 
down the fiery path,

never asking 
for more

than the opposite
of what we had,

the good reasons,
and the master plan—

which he failed
to fully envision.

Once, he gave me
Patti Smith

and Lou Reed
as examples

of what can happen
to women and men

who believe deeply
in upheaval—

transcendence, 
a new form.

He made me think
I even liked

the idea of betrayal, 
and for awhile

I sang 
those kind of songs.