Choose wisely

Because you cannot choose well

By love’s lyre lapped and ladled

In complete disarray

          she whispered at the loom.

Atom’s massive bite

Entwined like secrets buried in the tapestry

In and out and halved and wholed

Every night I come undone

Every day I am frankensteined

But just to know love was underneath

Is enough

Love the reason why

She knew like we all know

When our beloved does walk the earth indeed

Or ski the sea, or even when he beds

Another down

We knew, and, her maidens, sighed.

Some boats only big enough for one

Other houses full of things no one does touch

To mount the trunk

He slabbed

To string the bow he wailed

There at night

We flew our fingers like it was our own freedom

Though we’d never been in love

Save Atthis, who craved and whined each day:

The weaving had been won!

The phoenix had been sowed with the mark of blood-red dye

Like the penny jar breaking on the curb of a storm

Atthis didn’t last

In our ranks

Whose job it was to hold the man down

Though he was away

Summon the threads bearing weight, and heave!

O, miserable, O, measured,

Find me here beyond her room tonight

I must go it alone

Beget threads undone

For my mistress, her joy; her home, her

Choosing,

Which, though, not well, is, indeed,

Exceedingly wise.

___

HANNAH KENT is a poet and translator raised in Key West, FL, with a love of ancient Greek poetry and sunshine. She translates the surreal, feminist work of contemporary Greek author and playwright Alexandra K* and works with Ancient Exchanges. Find her @pol_udora.