SIX SWANS

^{COME TO MY CREMATION;

DOMINION PIECE;

PUPPY SEASON;

MY SURFACES, MY SERVICES;

THE EMPORER’S NEW NOOSE;

& NONE OF MY POWERS ARE SECRET}

_{Nadia de VRIES}

_{On the occassion of the publication of de VRIES’ second collection with DOSTOYEVSKY WANNABE—I FAILED TO SWOON—see below for six ‘SWANS’ lifted from from this suite of poems...}

^{Order the book direct

from the press here...}

^{COME TO MY CREMATION}

Liminality sounds like a cop-out to me
Either you throw yourself into something,
or you don’t. If my house caught on fire
and I could only save one thing,
I’d save the fire.

^{DOMINION PIECE}

My dumb tail won’t stop wagging for its captor
They say a body is a house
but I am not a house
My tragic face

is a terrible awning

^{PUPPY SEASON}

The night I sent you pictures of my breasts
and you ignored them, there were garbage bags
hanging in the trees.

^{MY SURFACES, MY SERVICES}

He asked for pictures of my room
I showed him my chair
My bedposts
My curtains

My carpet
Before you ask
No
They don’t match

^{THE EMPORER’S NEW NOOSE}

They’re setting off fire crackers
They’re setting off fire crackers in my street
And in the hallway of my house
My body is lying to me
It’s telling me there’s a war going on
But there’s no war going on at all

^{NONE OF MY POWERS

ARE SECRET}

I wouldn’t want to be a blonde in a horror movie
I wouldn’t want to be a blonde at a festival
I wouldn’t want to be a blonde in the darkness
I wouldn’t want to be a blonde in my house

_{Nadia de VRIES is a poet and essayist from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She is the author of the critical memoir KLEINZEER (Uitgeverij Pluim, 2019; in Dutch) and the poetry collection DARK HOUR (Dostoyevsky Wannabe, 2018; in English). She is currently working on her first novel.}

SIX SWANS

COME TO MY CREMATION; DOMINION PIECE; PUPPY SEASON; MY SURFACES, MY SERVICES; THE EMPORER’S NEW NOOSE; & NONE OF MY POWERS ARE SECRET

Nadia de VRIES

Order the book direct from the press here...

COME TO MY CREMATION

DOMINION PIECE

PUPPY SEASON

MY SURFACES, MY SERVICES

THE EMPORER’S NEW NOOSE

NONE OF MY POWERS ARE SECRET

^{COME TO MY CREMATION;

DOMINION PIECE;

PUPPY SEASON;

MY SURFACES, MY SERVICES;

THE EMPORER’S NEW NOOSE;

& NONE OF MY POWERS ARE SECRET}

_{Nadia de VRIES}

^{Order the book direct

from the press here...}

^{COME TO MY CREMATION}

^{DOMINION PIECE}

^{PUPPY SEASON}

^{MY SURFACES, MY SERVICES}

^{THE EMPORER’S NEW NOOSE}

^{NONE OF MY POWERS

ARE SECRET}