{"id":5859,"date":"2025-12-01T23:02:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T03:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/?page_id=5859"},"modified":"2025-12-01T23:02:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T03:02:51","slug":"displaced-french","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/fall-2025-digital-lit\/displaced-french\/","title":{"rendered":"Displaced Monarchs \u2014 Brigittine French \u2014 Fall 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

False bird of paradise by Jim Ross<\/p><\/div>\n

Displaced Monarchs<\/h1>\n

Brigittine French<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Home<\/span><\/i>, wings whisper
\n<\/span>in an unknown language of
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the color orange
\n<\/span>its phonology made of
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0petals opening
\n<\/span>its syntax arranged by
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0worms in the soil
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0and in the soul<\/span><\/p>\n

Weeds<\/span><\/i>, dead grandfathers insist
\n<\/span>they ordered
\n<\/span>sons and
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0sons-in-law
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0and dim-witted neighbor men
\n<\/span>who needed the meager pay
\n<\/span>to pull hearty stalks
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0bleeding milky white
\n<\/span>it was of no consequence to them
\n<\/span>a minor irritation
\n<\/span>like a sliver in the finger or
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0a child petting cats
\n<\/span>during chore time<\/span><\/p>\n

Progress<\/span><\/i>, daughters say
\n<\/span>we promise ourselves
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0uncalloused hands
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 confident with corn knives
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 among even bean rows
\n<\/span>hacking is better than pulling
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0chemicals are best
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the hose is dainty
\n<\/span>and the pink stain
\n<\/span>makes the venom festive<\/span><\/p>\n

cosmopolitan granddaughters
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 know nothing
\n<\/span>of dead grandfathers\u2019 merciless theories
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 know nothing
\n<\/span>of daughters who fled,
\n<\/span>we, farmers\u2019 daughters who became their mothers,
\n<\/span>with certitude that books
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 dates
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and equality
\n<\/span>would keep us from misery
\n<\/span>we could see, yet not name<\/span><\/p>\n

these granddaughters are the ones
\n<\/span>who can learn to
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 conjugate
\n<\/span>in this unrecognized sunset tongue
\n<\/span>How will they understand a language they do not yet speak<\/span><\/i>?
\n<\/span>the idiom
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0is carried
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0on wings of long displaced rulers
\n<\/span>whose green palaces survive
\n<\/span>as remnants
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 in the wildest spaces
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0men forget to destroy
\n<\/span>its semantics will form
\n<\/span>in dreams
\n<\/span>that come from the wives
\n<\/span>of the grandfathers
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 our grandmothers
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 whose voices are louder
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 in death than in life<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brigittine French<\/b> is an anthropologist, a third-generation Iowan, and author of three books (UArizona Press 2010; Routledge 2018; Rutgers U Press 2020). Her writing has appeared in <\/span>Ms.com<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Salon.com<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Lyrical Iowa<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jim Ross<\/b> jumped into creative pursuits in 2015 after rewarding career in public health research. With graduate degree from Howard University, in ten years he’s published nonfiction, fiction, poetry, photography, hybrid, interviews, and plays in 200+ journals on five continents. Photo publications include <\/span>Alchemy Spoon<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Barnstorm<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Burningword<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Camas<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Feral<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Invisible City<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Orion<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Phoebe<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Stonecoast<\/span><\/i>. Photo-essays include <\/span>DASH<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Kestrel<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Litro<\/span><\/i>, NWW, Pilgrimage, Sweet, Typehouse. His most recent interview, published by <\/span>Terrain.org<\/span><\/a>, was conducted with an artist. A <\/span>Best of the Net<\/span><\/i> nominee in nonfiction and art, he also wrote\/acted in a one-act play and appeared in a documentary limited series broadcast internationally. Jim\u2019s family splits time between city and mountains.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Displaced Monarchs Brigittine French   Home, wings whisper in an unknown language of \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the color orange its phonology made of \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7214,"featured_media":0,"parent":5625,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5859"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6035,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5859\/revisions\/6035"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}