~For Alphonse
BYZANTINE beauty standing lily-tall
against a willow weeping at the sight
of you, oh timeless goddess—how you glow;
even the moon envies your radiance.
YOU DRAPE the stars around you like a shawl
and bathe your milky skin under moonlight;
your bucatini tresses swirl and flow
down your bare back—vision of elegance.
LA BELLE Époque with fine lace parasol;
upon your bust a strand of malachite
and pearl—the only truth ye need to know.
Medusa-like you hold us in a trance.
SWEET poezie, how we admire your scrawl—
each utterance bejewelled and erudite;
from Leda’s swan to Frost’s snow-dusted crow
you show us through your cadence how to dance.
Paris Rosemont
Paris Rosemont is an Asian-Australian poet with a niche in
theatrical performance poetry. Her edgy poetry – distinct in voice – has been
widely published and awarded, including first place in the Hammond House
Publishing Origins Poetry Prize 2023 (UK), second place in the Whitsundays
Literary Heart Awards 2024 Poetry Prize (Australia) and shortlisted for the
International Proverse Poetry Prize 2023 & 2024 (Hong Kong).
Paris’s debut poetry collection Banana Girl (WestWords,
2023) was shortlisted by the Association for the Study of Australian
Literature for the 2024 Mary Gilmore Award. In the words of the
judges, Paris’s poetry is 'a verbal and emotional striptease…an exciting blend
of registers: defiantly revolutionary’. Banana Girl was also shortlisted for Poetry Book
Awards 2024 in Australia, Greece and the UK, and was awarded ‘Distinguished
Favorite’ in the NYC Independent Press Award 2025 (USA).
Paris’s second poetry
collection, Barefoot Poetess, will be released in early 2025.
