thepoets

Jim Christy is a Canadian poet. This poem “Drop Dead Gorgeous” is from a collection of his titled Cavatinas For Long Nights published in 2001 by Ekstasis Editions from Banff, Alberta. It’s one of those books that has remained part of my poetry collection and one I refer back occasionally. That’s what’s great about going back to older collections; you always reacquaint yourself with gems from the past.

This poem talks about the fleetingness of youth and how even those who are drop dead gorgeous will one day age and face the ravages of time. It’s a poem that makes you stop and think, “why do we place so much emphasis on appearance, and not our inner selves?”

Here are a few fine passages from the poem:

Thirty-one years old
and at the top of her game…

Cockatrice of the barrooms,
She lays waste men with just a glance

The only thing
She’s lacking is any clue
She’s not immortal.

You’re only thirty-one once
And no one’s spared Not Garbo
even or Catherine the Great

Many of the poems in this collection by Jim Christy have that street-wiseness to them. The poems in the collection, like this one, move along with a casualness of voice that one may encounter while talking to a friend on a long car ride. However, that casualness belies great insight.

Jim Christy writes poetry, novels, short stories, and non-fiction. He wrote biographies of Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski

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