Lines and Planes
Again, I’m at home
pondering wait times, security lines
carry-ons stacked, ready to go—
Thursday’s night flight rigmarole
pondering wait times, security lines
no delays—let traffic be light
Thursday’s night flight rigmarole
rush to a standstill—TSA’s motto
no delays—let traffic be light
shuttles and monorails, lines and planes
rush to a standstill—TSA’s motto
all worth it when I see his face
shuttles and monorails, lines and planes
carry-ons stacked, ready to go
all worth it when I see his face
again, I’m at home.
.
Pandora
But [Zeus] gave men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction. […] And he called this woman Pandora (All-Gifts), because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.
—Hesiod, Works & Days 54 (8th or 7thC BC)
The clever one steals fire,
so she is forged
to destroy,
another evil Eve
bound to break
the righteous
man.
This time
past temptation
no slippery serpent to blame
just theft
and a ticked off god—
it’s best not to mess
with the bearer of bolts.
So she’s made
for spite
for ruin
trotted between
lesser gods
for gifts
and delivered—
pretty package of pestilence,
beautiful bane
dropped off on man’s doorstep
too hot to refuse
this fire-born revenge
even when warned
no gift from Zeus
is a godsend.
The fair favor
of affliction
then set to work.
Like the quickest cancer
she unfurled
every blessing
but hope
to fly back to heaven,
every curse to catch
on the winds of Earth.
So what
that all the poets,
philosophers,
dead white men
of the West
can’t decide
what held her poisons best?
Was it box
or jar
or urn?
It’s all woman’s fault—
of that,
at least,
they are sure.
.
© Jill Michelle
Jill Michelle‘s latest poems appear/are forthcoming in BoomerLitMag, Drunk Monkeys, Funicular Magazine, Tipton Poetry Journal, and Valley Voices. Recent anthology credits include The Book of Bad Betties (Bad Betty Press, UK) and Words from the Brink (Arachne Press Limited, UK). She teaches at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida. Find more of her work at byjillmichelle.com.
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