Sexy Persephone, not that anyone would know.
Hades keeps the lights off, the room too warm.
Her children howl from nightmares Morpheus leaves low
like suns going down at the base of the spine.
Restless Persephone, gone bitchy in the ashy shadows,
escapes to fenced April, daughter of deities.
She's a woman, she bears worlds purple with jacaranda,
wisteria, yellow-eyed pansies and Queen-of-the-Nights.
Circumscribed Persephone, prisoner of fence and filigree,
no Ubers in the Underworld, though taxis crowd the tarmac
from city to jungle to ice cap, gathering thick ten feet away,
carrying businessmen dry as last month's paper left on a sill.
Persephone, I ride on your skin, behind your lids,
trapped as you are, wishing myself fecund as you are,
as frayed, as foxy, as fenestrated, a thing unto ourselves,
rising like spring stems garlanding a world denied.
Persephone, we lie in tandem in a dark grave, like butterflies.
___________
for Sunday Muse #160.
Love Greek mythology ... always loved the Queen of the Underworld and wondered how she could have bedded the horrible Hades. You took us for a ride, a wonderful ride (not in a Uber.)
ReplyDelete"an Uber" ....... DUH
DeleteThis is such a mingling of personas, with such a vivid portrait of each, like the glimpses one gets in a subway train of the faces of others flashing by in their own separate compartments, uncannily lit and clear, then gone. The myth of a captured spring, of honors in the Underworld and the fertility and flavor of life regulated and compartmentalized by the whims of others...so many metaphors, and each one subtle, penetrating and skillful as an inky scalpel in the hands of a genius surgeon. I especially like your use of alliteration, and the words you've chosen to do it with, in particular, fenestrated...sheer magic, and a killer last line.
ReplyDeleteThis is braided with different personalities. I travel between cackle and tears. Absolutely fabulous writing/storytelling.
ReplyDeleteI like your 3 descriptive stanzas followed by the personal address of the 4th. What a goddess to be closely acquainted with!
ReplyDeleteHad to take a look again at Greek mythology to be connected with the story-line. Clever way of referencing them with modern day happenings (Uber reference is one) Thoughful take Shay!
ReplyDeleteWomanhood as strong and vibrant as it gets - when we were young, we were Persephone but sadly didnt know it back then. My dad always said youth is wasted on the young. I love the blooms, the mix of fence and filigree, and the way the poem builds up to your closing stanza and that wonderful last line.
ReplyDeleteA classic! The powerful imagery woven to perfection!
ReplyDeleteAmazing. Just...amazing. This is one of those poems that cracks a myth out of the book and shakes it, vivid and speaking, on the street.
ReplyDeleteWonderful! All too believable re ways she has become constrained – and yet she is still redolent of power and beauty, like the flowers, the butterflies, able to escape (if only sometimes) from that dark grave.
ReplyDeleteno Ubers in the Underworld, though taxis crowd the tarmac"
ReplyDeleteThat line made me smile
Happy Sunday. Thanks for dropping by to read mine
Much💚lovd
You have taken this mythic tale and made us see it in ourselves. How you make me see what I see in your eloquent imagery and poetic story telling is sheer brilliance my friend!
ReplyDeleteI always try to avoid fenestration (both IRL and in poems), but sometimes you gotta throw a few chairs through the glass like "suns going down at the base of the spine" , "I ride on your skin, behind your lids", followed by the whole dining room table of "we lie in tandem in a dark grave, like butterflies." Goddam. Broken glass everywhere. Bodies. The dining room set that Zeus gave them as a wedding present...
ReplyDeleteUh, meant "de-fenestration" there...
ReplyDeleteAlthough my knowledge of Greek mythology is not the best,
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate this poem of emotions, and lack
of Ubers.
Well damn! I thought Ubers were everywhere. A lesson in standing mythology on its ear and making it sing!
ReplyDelete"no Ubers in the Underworld, though taxis crowd the tarmac"
ReplyDeleteso true, there is always a flood of new arrivals in hell. this was (is, cause i'm going to read it a few more times) so much fun to read, so many layers. too may great lines to quote, but these were fun:
"She's a woman, she bears worlds purple with jacaranda,
wisteria, yellow-eyed pansies and Queen-of-the-Nights."
had kind of a night-shady quality to it. really enjoyed this poem.