The Noble Art of Becoming Nothing

I’m grateful to Samantha for unknowingly giving this piece its title.

For Nina Sloan—
lacrimæ loquuntur

O, what ignominy of chance
’tis to awake far in advance
and make yourself a bonnie lass
in toil before the looking glass

and there, despite your every wish,
to fashion of yourself a dish,
and groom and preen and dream and plan,
only to end where you began

when you unmake yourself before
a man.