from (C)OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS, Book the Third

The Birth of Bacchus

In a risqué dinner theater,
I’ll have the risoto while 
the maenads tear apart a wholesome 
day-trading man like
yesterday’s poké.  Poke a wasp’s nest
with a pool cue & out comes
cumin, & O to be youth’s 
shoot instead of mild favor curried
as the comedic relief.
Wait in the twilit field & listen 
for the din come from down
the mountain, feral & lilting 
like the songs of youth 
etched on your headstone.

The Transformation of Tiresias

Coax the lobbyists into the forest
one by one like a thousand Elmer Fudds
& let them each get bitten by the radioactive 
rabbit - a silly trick, yes, as the funny
bunny puckers up while wearing
his sexiest dress.  Who could be blind 
to the two serpents writhing underfoot 
while the coyote offers you 
his new business card? It reads, 
I DISAPPEAR FOR FOOLS
on both sides. Seagulls, stop it now
for I have my stick & my dreadful lawn
full of red ants, rusty nails & shallow 
graves.

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from (C)OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS, Book the Fifth

Calliope sings: Persephone's fate It's too late to question the logic of curses, to second guess why some birds deserve h...