‘Women Are Doomed to Be the Angels of Love’
— Andrew Sargus Klein
Almost a month to the day when I first wrote about a heart poem, I’m back at it again. ‘Women Are Doomed to Be the Angels of Love’ by Nikki Wallschlaeger is a wide-ranging associative riff on hearts that evolve from lighthearted to macabre to deadly political. We have Lisa Frank hearts, hearts on a dorm pillow, hearts in a Nirvana song and we have: “On good days I submit to being a committed student of the heart. On bad days I am paranoid and anxious about my heart being kidnapped by intruders in blue uniforms.” The poem occupies multiple narratives at once without breaking a sweat.
Without the title I have a feeling you’d know where this poem ends as soon as you start reading it—and even then, it still brings the hammer down and you’re just not ready for it.