On Giacometti’s Woman with Her Throat Cut by Laura Kasischke
"And, baring her neck, the queen."
ON GIACOMETTI’s Woman with Her Throat Cut
She sings the song of the angel holding her own halo in her hands. Or, girl on her way to school. Or lady waiting for a bus. Or the mother found with her daughter under the rubble a couple days after the— Ballerina on her knees in a field. Or Joan of Arc, in perfumed flames. Or the stone bride in the cemetery, wearing a veil of moss & lichen. And the blindfolded child bride. And the nurse who attended to the raped. And the teacher who shielded the children. And the vixen who ran into the thorns to lead the hunters away from— And the eyes of the virgin saint on a plate. And the ewe, submitting to the shears. And, baring her neck, the queen. And the prostitute strangled in the parking lot. And the wives holding hands on the beach, shot. Marilyn Monroe on a sewer grate. Jane Doe in a drawer at the morgue. Like Bonnie, riding shotgun. Or any song ever sung by Amy Winehouse, who lived & died for us.
This poem will appear in I Was Bonnie & Clyde (Copper Canyon Press, 2026).
This poem is in response to ON GIACOMETTI’s Woman with Her Throat Cut, 1932.
You may submit to this category for free. We pay $22 for selected pieces. More details here.






Yes. All of them. Martyrs saints goddesse and us.
So good!