Man/woman/ man, Tiresias rated the female
in bliss nine parts the victor and gave his eyes

for his error in discretion; Jonah’s Leviathan
hid in her strange name only hints of whale;

the wolf as grandma, Norma Jean in
Marilyn‘s sequin and curve, began

with ordinary reach became icons
of earlobe, eyelid, shin, in them

we relish even dubious conversion—
Joppa isn’t Nineveh, We don’t give a damn.

We find delight in slippery fables, purpose-
built to morph. Heroes, gods and prophets,

our doppelgängers come, perfect as made,
loved most by us when startled into change.

Wendy Taylor Carlisle

---

Wendy Taylor Carlisle lives in the Arkansas Ozarks. She is the author of two books, Reading Berryman to the Dog and Discount Fireworks (both Jacaranda Books). Her most recent chapbook is Persephone on the Metro, (MadHat Press, 2014.) For more information, check her website at www.wendytaylorcarlisle.com.

Artwork: Alex Kirzhner, “New God”
Website: http://www.alexkirzhner.com

28 Feb This entry was published on February 28, 2016 at 12:05 am and is filed under 17 (February 2016), Poetry. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.