"On Rope Ties" & "On Straitjackets" two original poems by thepoetmiranda
Two original poems by thepoetmiranda
Intro
Like I said a couple weeks ago when I posted my poem “Harry and Bess,” I’m revisiting older poems and seeing what still stands up well, or can be reworked to stand up well, for inclusion in one of the two poetry manuscripts I’m working on, The Escape Act and Car Guy Girl.
“Harry and Bess” is in the manuscript for The Escape Act and was inspired by a photo of Harry and Bess Houdini. Some of you already know this: this manuscript started when I was in grad school (2013-2016) after my wife did some genealogical research that confirmed I’m related to Harry Houdini.
I started writing poems about escape acts and vaudeville and illusion and seances (he was skeptical of people who claimed spiritual powers) and on and on. There’s so much imagery available in the world he inhabited to write about any theme(s) one wants to.
I’m posting two poems today that were influenced by a collection of Houdini’s writing I came across during my research called The Right Way to Do Wrong, in which he explains how to perform different tricks and acts that were common among magicians or criminals.
Why am I sharing two poems today? Both share this book as an impetus, but they aren’t the only poems that I found in myself while reading Houdini’s writing. The reason you’re getting a two-for-one deal today is because “On Rope Ties,” at five words over two lines, is my shortest poem. It seemed silly to send it out into the ether alone (though I do hope it stands alone as a poem as well as I think it does.
The second poem, “On Straitjackets,” was published in The Stockholm Review of Literature a few years ago (with other poems from this set that I’ll share with y’all soon—”On Eating Fire” and “On Ingesting Poison”). This poem is also one of my few prose poems (in paragraph form with no line breaks).
As always, the poem texts are below, followed by my video reading.
Love y’all!
💜Miranda📚
On Rope Ties
One hand frees the other.
On Straitjackets
This Halloween, children dress up in straitjackets, ignite a protest movement in the neighborhood, refuse participation in the trick-or-treat economy. They face mace and tear gas canisters that trickle down from the army surplus to local law enforcement. Overflowing with blood, orange broad-faced jack-o’-lantern buckets hang loose from their jaws. When all the candy is toxic, a sweet tooth will do you in. Look at the grins on those buckets, chipped teeth glowing in the dark. The children hug themselves, closed canvas sleeves, one arm over the other—leather straps a lighter brown where they stretch across their backs.
My Reading
How You Can Support thepoetmiranda
Thank you for reading and/or listening to these poems.
Would you like to see these and their companion poems in print? Soon, I’ll be selling prints of individual poems, so watch for my announcement on that development. At some point this year, I’d like to publish both my book manuscripts. I’ll most likely self-publish them, but if you’re a publisher and like what you see, we can discuss that further. Poems I’ve shared so far can be found here:
Right now, the best ways to support my poetry and memoir writing projects are to subscribe here on Substack (free or paid), subscribe on YouTube, and/or to donate at ko-fi.com/thepoetmiranda or via CashApp $thepoetmiranda. It all helps. Thank you!
The memoir I mentioned? It’s called They Will Keep on Speaking Her Name and is about my life as a transgender woman:
I would love to see your poems in print Miranda! Will you keep us update on where we can get them when they come out?