Zeffirelli was blamed
for weighing her down
Bodice: Elizabethan
Neck: Oriental
Headdress: Egyptian
But a queen isn’t easily moved
Her subjects must animate
the black-gold motion
of her kingdom
The lighting cue got fucked
so she entered unseen
but her immortal longings—
Darling!—in darkness a flare
and I wanted to see my dancers
I did
The happening of her however
black mantis in full glide
Goddamn
Alvin Ailey (January 5, 1931–December 1, 1989) was a noted dancer, choreographer, activist and founder of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
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From The Monster I Am Today: Leontyne Price and a Life in Verse by Kevin Simmonds. Used with the permission of Triquarterly Books. Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Simmonds.
Kevin Simmonds
Kevin Simmonds is a musician and writer originally from New Orleans. He studied music at Vanderbilt University and the University of South Carolina. He is the author of two poetry collections, Mad for Meat and Bend to It, and the editor of Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion and Spirituality and Ota Benga under My Mother's Roof, a posthumously published collection by Carrie Allen McCray.
