Crazy Courage Poem by Alma Luz Villanueva

Crazy Courage

Rating: 3.5


Why do I think of Michael....
He came to my fiction class
as a man (dressed in men's
clothes) : then he came

to my poetry class
as a woman (dressed in women's
clothes, but he was still
a man under the clothes) .

Was I moved in the face of
such courage (man/woman
woman/man) ....
Was I moved by the gentleness

of his masculinity; the strength
of his femininity....
His presence at the class poetry
reading, dressed in a miniskirt,

high boots, bright purple tights,
a scooped-neck blouse, carrying
a single, living, red rose, in a
vase, to the podium (the visitors

not from the class, shocked-
the young, seen-it-all MTV crowd-
into silence as he's introduced,
'Michael....') And what it was, I think,

was his perfect dignity, the offering
of his living, red rose to the perceptive,
to the blind, to the amused, to the impressed,
to those who would kill him, and

to those who would love him.
And of course I remember the surprise
of his foamy breasts as we hugged
goodbye, his face blossomed

open, set apart, the pain of it,
the joy of it (the crazy courage
to be whole, as a rose is
whole, as a child is

whole before they're
punished for including
everything in their
innocence.)

To Michael B.

Friday, January 24, 2014
Topic(s) of this poem: Courage
POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
This poem was chosen for the anthology, 'The Best American Poetry,1996.' It's in my book, 'Desire.' This wonderful student, Michael B., taught us all, everyone in our class, transforming us from that time on. I still feel his crazy courage, adding it to my own.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
JoAnn Anglin 18 September 2018

Thank you. I plan to use this poem for my lesson plan on Courage in my class for incarcerated men. I'm sure it will lead to some interesting discussion, followed by interesting poems.

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