Of the Impending Mission

by Jillian Weise 

 

It is best not to talk about this
which is why I am scribbling it
on the sole of my Manolo.
I met one of them in Plaidtown.
His hair was bleached and he wanted
to fuck Soxy but she wasn’t into it,
no matter how cool he was
and I can tell you: he was pretty
cool according to himself.
One editor sd, “Write a book
and don’t cuss in it and don’t
have any sex and if you must
have sex, then have it with
one person and let it be tragic,
for example, he is only sleeping
with you b/c you are disabled.
You are very sad afterwards
and take some time to be alone.
This I could sell.” How to deal?
Thank you for your kind words
on the execution tourists.
I am nowhere near the target.

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JILLIAN WEISE is a poet, performance artist and disability rights activist. She is the author of Translating the Body (2006), The Amputee’s Guide to Sex (2007), The Colony (2010) and The Book of Goodbyes (2013), which won the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and the Isabella Gardner Award from BOA Editions. Her work has appeared in A Public Space, The Huffington Post, The New York Times and other publications. Her heteronym, Tipsy Tullivan, hosts a show called “Tips for Writers” on YouTube. Weise is the recipient of residencies and fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Fulbright Program, the Lannan Foundation, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is an Associate Professor at Clemson University.