Adagio for Bisexual Erasure

Contrary to the common sentiment that art is imitation, I used this poem as a means for actively re-living and re-imagining the past. For me, it was an opportunity for more life as such, nothing derivative. There are certain private matters in this poem that I try to make appealing or accessible to the reader through musicality, hence the title, and image. The musical air to the poem comes, perhaps, from the writing process itself, because I listened to a famous adagio for hours on end, letting it sink into me, and then I channeled that energy into a poem with my own memories, reflections, and preoccupations. Much of my current work shows curiosity, or maybe obsession, with possibilities for being, whether lost, unrealized, or otherwise. In this piece, I’m specifically thinking about how seemingly small choices can have life-altering impacts, how we carry the totality of those choices, and how there is an invisible part of us—Soul? Personality? Something else?—subject to alterations, some of which weigh heavily upon our conscience.