Bildungsroman By Karen Rigby

About the statue sculpted in green bronze

curbed between wildwood and the civic park downtown

each horse hoisted in mid-air, fur

giving over to snow, haunches

illuminated now by moonlight, just

kiting low between the branches: let

me write one more elegy about a city I never

once forgot, not in grief or panic

quickening in the trees, rain

strewn across boulevards, tracks

under bridges, the river a glittering vein—

wherever history marks an X,

you and I were never the zeitgeist.

BEHIND THE POEM:

“Bildungsroman” is an exercise in the abecedarian. It’s also a poem that unfolds across one sentence. I wanted to find out what those two limitations would bring about. I’ve also lived in cities at varying times, and am fascinated by their monuments and histories. Then, too, several of my poems might be thought of as love poems. This poem combines all of that.

ABOUT:

Born in the Republic of Panama in 1979, Karen Rigby now lives and writes in Arizona. Her latest poetry book, Fabulosa, is forthcoming from JackLeg Press in 2024. Her debut poetry book, Chinoiserie (Ahsahta Press, 2012), was selected by Paul Hoover for a 2011 Sawtooth Poetry Prize, and described by Booklist as “poignant, powerful, and urgent.”

Karen’s work has been honored by a National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship, a Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, and an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. She is a 2023 recipient of an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Her poetry is published in journals such as The London Magazine, Poetry Northwest, The Oxonian Review, and Australian Book Review.

EDITOR'S SONG PAIRING: Luna -- Summer Boulevards (DUSQ Remix)