Leda

How can I say what happened there? Stripped

of the elegant hands, the black webs

churning air—when I prayed I would be

carried off, the heaven I imagined

held us both, smooth-limbed & honey-fed.

Instead he arrived inside the monstrous

hull of a body, alien without

the weight of water to buoy its thrashing

wingbeat, ridiculous waddle

replacing the long strides across the field

I dreamed would save me from the misery

of dwelling here inside this worthless flesh,

these fears & doubts, the mind that will not stop

remembering the list of words that bear

two sides like coins tossed in the air:

an invocation is a prayer & summoning;

to be ravishing means one enchants

but when she is ravished she is seized

by force; to cleave means to adhere with faith

as well as to split open. Fuck you, Zeus.

You knew exactly what I meant.