Even ripening marble
was too slow to catch
more than the half of her:
hair thick braids of wheat,
wide eyes focused on
distant oats whose stalks
her hands had combed before
Persephone had bloomed,
winnowed her to only
weeping mother, not lover,
reaper, white corn tassel
dancer.  What marble slab,
what seed of earth could hold her,
goddess grown in everything?

Mary Alexandra Agner

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Mary Alexandra Agner writes of dead women, telescopes, and secrets. Her poetry, stories, and nonfiction have appeared in The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Shenandoah, and Sky & Telescope, respectively. She can be found online at http://www.pantoum.org.

Artwork: Bahar, Golden Field
Website: https://www.deviantart.com/bomgirl

31 May This entry was published on May 31, 2020 at 12:06 am and is filed under 42 (May 2020), Poetry. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.