Icarus Puts On Her Make Up

By Jess Rizkallah

I tied my hair into a ponytail
and when a strand on one side came loose
to frame my face, i felt beautiful
like an arab woman.

i pulled a strand from the other side
to match. a symmetry,
a mimicry. a rare allowance.
i could rouge my lips

and sigh. i could kneel
to pray. i could cross
my legs in the last pew
no one would know.

mountain mothers say battered knees
forfeit yr womanhood. be markless
and marked by shadow until the melted sugar
clears away the under, the brush, the blush.

hold the peach its bruise facedown.
divorce the body from its reflection in dirt. sever

the proximity to animalia. my kingdom
for a mane to call my own. my mane

for a throne i never asked for.
one day at the alter we will both wear crowns.
frankincense and myrrh. shroud me

in sequins
a plagiarized night
to fool the night. carry me
on your back

for as you slept i lined
each threshold
with salt.
in the dark

no one can tell
the gasp of fear
from the gasp of desire.
desire is just longing

wearing eyeliner.
my shoulders push up wires
where once were wings.
now with a brush i glitter them.

i present them to a man
of my choosing
his face flushed. once,
i was ashamed.

never knew these hairs vestigial, remnants
of angelic days when i could be the messenger
or the star above a birth, content
where hands can’t reach

my skirt unripped

but the fallen pray with battered knees
each scar a looking glass into the earth
tender sheens activating
the past

where once i raced a boy
and the asphalt claimed
a tablespoon of my flesh
the bone simmering

to forshadow the tingle
every time it rains. come summer,
a tangle of cells
obstructs my every close shave.

i remember the look on my aunt’s face
and her daughterless tongue.
her silent disgust as i cried.

i ran i jumped my wings obliterated
by the sun i fell i scarred i bled
i reflect but don’t repent
my skirts hemmed above the knee

not to betray
womanly obedience
but to remind you
that once i flew

i was an animal in the heat
i was better than any son.

i could have easily escaped
but for once i wanted
to win.

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Famous-Poems-quiz

Famous Poems: 20 Multiple-Choice Questions

1 / 20

"Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all."

 

- Who is the author of this poem?

2 / 20

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by,"

- What is the next line of this poem by Robert Frost?

3 / 20

"I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong."

- Who is the author of this poem?

4 / 20

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep." 

 

- Who is the author of this poem?

5 / 20

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary," - What is the next line of this poem by Edgar Allan Poe?

6 / 20

"Sonnet 29" is a famous sonnet by William Shakespeare. What is the next line of this poem after "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,"?

7 / 20

"The Sun Rising" is a famous poem by John Donne. What is the next line of this poem after "Busy old fool, unruly Sun, / Why dost thou thus"?

8 / 20

"Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink."

- What is the title of this poem?

9 / 20

"The End and the Beginning" is a famous poem by Wislawa Szymborska. What is the next line of this poem after "After every war / someone has to clean up"?

10 / 20

"i carry your heart with me" is a famous poem by E.E. Cummings. What is the next line of this poem after "i carry your heart with me(i carry it in"?

11 / 20

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate: 

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 

And summer's lease hath all too short a date."

 

 - Who is the author of this poem?

12 / 20

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

 Old age should burn and rave at close of day; 

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

 

- Who is the author of this poem?

13 / 20

"The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!"

- Who is the author of this poem?

14 / 20

"I am the master of my fate, 

I am the captain of my soul." 

 

- What is the title of this poem?

15 / 20

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." 

 

- What is the title of this poem?

16 / 20

"The Waste Land" is a famous poem by T.S. Eliot. What is the next line of this poem after "April is the cruellest month"?

17 / 20

"And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep."

 

 - What is the title of this poem?

18 / 20

"Because I could not stop for Death – 

He kindly stopped for me – 

The Carriage held but just Ourselves – 

And Immortality." 

 

- What is the title of this poem?

 

 - Who is the author of this poem?

19 / 20

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a famous poem by T.S. Eliot. What is the next line of this poem after "Do I dare / Disturb the universe?"?

20 / 20

"Still I Rise" is a famous poem by Maya Angelou. What is the next line of this poem after "You may shoot me with your words"?

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Forms-Of-Poetry-Quiz

Forms Of Poetry: 20 Multiple-Choice Questions

1 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of a series of unrhymed tercets followed by a quatrain, with the same end words used throughout the poem in a specific pattern?

2 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form that uses the repetition of a single word or phrase at the end of each line, and can be as short as three lines or as long as multiple stanzas?

3 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by three-line stanzas, with a syllable count of 5-7-5 and a seasonal reference?

4 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms consists of a three-line stanza, with a syllable count of 5-7-5, but also includes a two-line stanza at the end, with a syllable count of 7-7?

5 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B?

6 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which a speaker addresses someone or something that is absent or not able to respond?

7 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by three-line stanzas, with the second line repeating as the last line of the previous stanza?

8 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form that originated in ancient Arabic poetry, consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, typically used to express love or melancholy?

9 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter are followed by a rhyming line of iambic tetrameter?

10 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which the poem's shape on the page reflects its subject matter?

11 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by three stanzas of three lines each and a final quatrain?

12 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which each line or stanza repeats the same sequence of words, but in reverse order?

13 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a series of eight-line stanzas, with a rhyme scheme of A-B-A-B-B-C-B-C?

14 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a repeated refrain, alternating with a series of quatrains, with a final quatrain as a coda?

15 / 20

What is the name for a poetic form consisting of 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme and meter?

16 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form consisting of four-line stanzas, with a rhyme scheme of ABAB, typically used to express love or praise?

17 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms is characterized by a poem that describes or meditates on the natural world, often using vivid imagery and sensory language?

18 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which each line contains the same number of syllables?

19 / 20

What is the name of the poetic form in which the first letter of each line spells out a word or phrase?

20 / 20

Which of the following poetic forms originated in Italy?

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