M. Nasorri Pavone
Acts of obedience protect and imprison. When is disobedience right and necessary? Self-expression can be seen as “disobedient” in worlds other than mine with substantial punishment in response. I’m free to flaunt my disobedience in my writing.
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Replacing the Word and the Martyr
A wordless stare contains the grammar
of least violence. If your eyes moisten,
it’s too much. If they roll in any direction,
if your lids flutter, that’s a verbal stutter.
Even your brow furrowed for emphasis—
don’t crack or seethe or smolder.
Focus with a laser’s clean, unwavering pitch
to enter. Then let the offenders go.
Let them wade deeper into the dark pools
of their liking, your gaze to awake the waves.
Silence isn’t consent when speech is punishable.
And your pride spoken will invite attack.
Stay with us, unbound in our attempt
to hold a balance, perhaps forgive.
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M. Nasorri Pavone's poems have appeared in The Cortland Review, River Styx, New Letters, Harpur Palate, The Midwest Quarterly, DMQ Review, La Fovea, Slant, Roanoke Review, Bluestem, Stirring, Chaparral, Green Hills Literary Lantern, Quiddity and elsewhere. She also writes plays. Her new comedy, The Cowboy Soul Contest Rehearsal celebrates its world premiere at the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival. She is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and lives in Venice, California.