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Kim Addonizio’s numerous works include the poetry collections Exit Opera, (2024) and Tell Me; the novel in verse Jimmy & Rita; the novel Little Beauties; the writing manual Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within; the story collection The Palace of Illusions, the title story of which first appeared in Narrative; and the essay collection Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writing Life. Other awards and honors include two Pushcart Prizes, a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal, and the John Ciardi Lifetime Achievement Award. A finalist in Narrative’s Fifteenth Annual Poetry Contest, Addonizio lives in Oakland, California.

Photograph by Elizabeth Sanderson.

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My Opera

by Kim Addonizio
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takes place in a dive bar, it’s all drunken recitative,
okay maybe an aria sung by a feral kitten, one
by a skittish dog or donkey, maybe one without words
just the sounds of lovemaking, moans, laughter, wailing,
People on couch
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