"Birth of Venus" by Emery Ann
“Birth of Venus” by Emery Ann is the winner of the 2021 Debut Prize for Emerging Poets. Here’s what Touchstone’s Editor-in-Chief, Spencer R. Young, had to say about the poem:
“This poem, which appears to be anchored in another reality, a dreamscape, disobeys in the most striking of ways. Daughters are 'all squish and small and gasping;' the body is 'gutted like a fish, like a china doll.' The title and recurring sea imagery adds an alluring layer of intrigue to this poem: who is Botticelli's Venus? Is it the daughter? Or, perhaps it is the speaker, waking up into godhood? The poem carries both readings like a child.”
Accompanying “Birth of Venus” is an original broadside art piece influenced by the poem, created by Chailey Marr. “Birth of Venus” is Emery Ann’s first poetry publication.
“The Birth Of Venus” by Chailey Marr. This original piece was inspired by Emery Ann’s prize-winning poem.
Birth of Venus
I ache for a daughter I’ve never wanted,
all squish and small and gasping.
I cannot throw her back into the sea and she dies.
I watch my hands slice her: cold,
precise, as usual. My hands are yours, too,
and my womb is the table, and I don’t know where that is.
They lay down all their cards, these boys. This one boy.
This one hand slices through the haze of plastic-wrapped cigars,
and the winner has my body.
His hands scoop me and it feels good
to be gutted like a fish, like a china doll.
I have a soft body, or so I have been told.
Pressing and pulling, rough and hard and hot.
This is my first kiss and I am all too aware of my lips,
welted and weeping, in ecstasy, maybe. This is so
dull.
And yet, I haven’t dreamed about kissing in a long time.
I wake up wet.
Emery Ann (She/They) is a writer and theatre artist. Their most recent play, Henry and Mae Kill a Cat, was produced by Western Illinois University in the Spring of 2021. They live in Chicago with their partner and their cat, Poptart.
Broadside Artist:
Chailey Marr received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with an emphasis in Painting. Her art has evolved over time introducing digital media and textiles as new creative expressions. Chailey lives in Western Wyoming where she enjoys spending time in the outdoors and dreaming of one day becoming a hobbit.