The Goddess of Hinges
Her power is to open what is shut; to shut what is open. – Ovid
In those days
when you slept with a god
you received a gift
so two-faced, unevadable
Janus, who ruled
over every beginning
Janus, whose door
opened for war
and closed for peace
Janus, whose sacrifices
of honey cakes, barley,
incense and wine
sweetened the tongue
an auspice
of good things to come
outwitted the huntress Cardea
her trick of hanging back
fooled ordinary men
but you can’t win
against a god who sees easily
in both directions
he chased her down
and traded
for her virginity
the protection of the threshold
the guarding of children
from night-monsters
and its corollary proposition
the decision: when to open
whom to admit
© Jenny Isaacs
Four decades after earning her B.A. in poetry from Johns Hopkins, Jenny Isaacs‘ first chapbook, The Argument of Time, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press as a semi-finalist in their 2025 Open Chapbook Competition. Her poems have appeared this year in Pedestal, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Thimble Literary Magazine, Mezzo Cammin, Bulb Culture Collective, Willows Wept Review, Pulsebeat, and Neologism Poetry Journal. She lives on a creek off the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
The Loch Raven Review 