Satvika Menon
the performance
I am on a stage and I am performing- “good girl”:
Do you see me dancing? I crumple my knees and kneel;
I am a little cat who curls and purrs and is pet//but I am good-
I read my books as hands wrap around my neck// I am still reading as my lungs turn into violet
blooms that wither to dust//I will end as dust, as will you, but my dust will be good.
Good warps my spine into an ugly coil- I cannot stand anymore after all the kneeling//crawl off the
stage//skin my knees over the steps//the air smells of rust.
The blood is wiped and I cannot perform good girl anymore; I have forgotten the script.
I am handed the vodka.
Do you see me dancing? I crumple my knees and kneel;
I am a little cat who curls and purrs and is pet//but I am good-
I read my books as hands wrap around my neck// I am still reading as my lungs turn into violet
blooms that wither to dust//I will end as dust, as will you, but my dust will be good.
Good warps my spine into an ugly coil- I cannot stand anymore after all the kneeling//crawl off the
stage//skin my knees over the steps//the air smells of rust.
The blood is wiped and I cannot perform good girl anymore; I have forgotten the script.
I am handed the vodka.
--
Satvika Menon is a young poet from India who was raised in Malaysia, Hong Kong and New Jersey. Her poetry has been previously published in The B’K, Thimble Literary, Rogue Agent, Plum Tree Tavern, Scarlet Leaf Review and the 2021 poetry anthology The Kali Project, among others. As a young woman of colour, most of her poetry is centered on feminist depictions of the world, body and self, as well as themes of adolescence, youth and growing up. She is currently obtaining her Master’s in Political Anthropology at UCL.
Satvika Menon is a young poet from India who was raised in Malaysia, Hong Kong and New Jersey. Her poetry has been previously published in The B’K, Thimble Literary, Rogue Agent, Plum Tree Tavern, Scarlet Leaf Review and the 2021 poetry anthology The Kali Project, among others. As a young woman of colour, most of her poetry is centered on feminist depictions of the world, body and self, as well as themes of adolescence, youth and growing up. She is currently obtaining her Master’s in Political Anthropology at UCL.