Side A Prose Poem: “Peonies” by Tiffany Troy

Peonies

The chiaroscuro of my breasts hanging from my nightgown under the lamp light. His voice soothes as buds take root over my skin in droves. The buttons undone, I open the hem of the dress to my waist, as I take in the day’s sweat and decay. I detach parts of myself as he whispers, What if I…? The shadow of peonies that once hung upside down points to the line we must not cross, as I fondle his cool smoothness, wrapped in the embarrassing outgrowth of my desire. I stripped the evergreen leaves so there won’t be any sucking wasted from the bouquet of peonies leaning against the painted door. The next day, I cleaned up the proof of my day’s unmaking and smoothed the sheets.

Mini-interview with Tiffany Troy

HFR: Can you share a moment that has shaped you as a writer (or continues to)?

TT: One moment that shaped me as a writer was when my friend Emam O’Leary and I interviewed the poet and writer Andrew Grace, about his collection Sancta. He said something profound, which I’ve held on ever since:

“To be a poet of place means that you are elevating your place and pay the type of attention to it that you assume other people pay towards New York and Paris and London. Your own acre is just as deserving of a poem.”

HFR: What are you reading?

TT: Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya and Via Ápia by Geovani Martins (translated by Julia Sanches).

HFR: Can you tell us what prompted “Peonies”?

TT: “Peonies” is an ekphrastic poem which takes after “Peony Symphony” by Valerie Khoo. I was interested in the chiaroscuro background and the evocativeness of the flower. I first jotted down a description of what I was seeing, and words that describe the painting. I then used those words as a jumping off point to build a scene for the speaker of the poem, evoking the feeling of peonies featured in the painting.

HFR: What’s next? What are you working on?

TT: I have been working on a manuscript called, On the Extraordinary. In it, characters that don’t quite belong learn, to borrow poet Andrew Grace’s words, see the beauty in the acre where we live while recognizing that things are awful and not perfect.

This spring, with the support of the Asian American Art Alliance, I am hosting a poetry symposium on Asian American poetry at the Queens Botanical Garden.

HFR: Take the floor. Be political. Be fanatical. Be anything. What do you want to share?

TT: Just that Toad Press recently selected my translation of diamond & rust by Catalina Vergara from the Spanish. I hope you check it out when it comes out this summer or fall!

Tiffany Troy is the author of Dominus (BlazeVOX [books]) and the chapbook When Ilium Burns (Bottlecap Press). She translated Catalina Vergara’s diamond & rust (Toad Press International Chapbook Series). She is Managing Editor at Tupelo Quarterly, Associate Editor of Tupelo Press, Book Review Co-Editor at The Los Angeles Review, Assistant Poetry Editor at Asymptote, and Co-Editor of Matter.

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