by Julie Elise Landry
Editor's Note: Due to the formatting of this poem, it is best viewed on desktop.
###
after Anne Carson
Nakedly happy
freed from chiton and cuirass
my nymphs quiet
in sunlight
bathing
then
screaming—
the specialized female function
our intense pleasures and pains
our voices and bodies
exposed—
I cannot bear it
the gender of our sound bared
echoing
not only in my forest
but in his unwelcome
witness
too much of us surrendered
to his interpretation
and I know too
the ribs of the gods
the names
they aim at me
“she who delights in shafts” indeed
all I want—
for gods and men to say nothing
that swells these girls
their inadequate
screams
I will not be blamed for dogs
for appetites the man brought
with him
besides
when Actaeon screams
he knows us
best
Julie Elise Landry writes and edits things—poems, grants, novels, press releases. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in diode poetry journal, A-minor Magazine, Backchannels Journal, HOOT Review, and more. She holds an MA in English from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and she is pursuing an MFA in poetry from the University of New Orleans. In 2023, she received an Honorable Mention for UNO’s Vassar Miller Poetry Award. Julie grew up in New Orleans, and she serves as an Associate Poetry Editor of Bayou Magazine.
Comments