Therefore I am



by Jana Astanov

…graced with perceptions
The sunset at the Greenwich park
beyond the witches circle
and the moon approaching its bloom
jagged surface of an old oak tree
leading me towards  
if I bite it at the right angle I will turn into a wild cat
descending with poise

Presently I am still a woman
illimitable sensory argument on a waxing moon
demiurge asking

What if the knowledge and the history
were plagued with evil epistemology of the Anthropocene kind?
with all the thoughtful “I”s
all illusory

Colonial imperial reductively rationalistic 
disembodied dead white heterosexual 
males with their servant girls 
and Descartes 
weeping over the body 
of his daughter-niece

Would you rather be a servant girl
than a slave girl?
what not to be proud of
when you have no choice 

Jana Astanov is a multidisciplinary artist and a poetess, living in New York. She published four collections of poetry: Antidivine (Undergroundbooks.org), Grimoire, Sublunar, and Birds of Equinox (Red Temple Press).