Leda in Old Age
       

These days she vacuums nude & why not.
        The window's still boarded up.
Even after all these years glass rattles
        up the metal tube into the machine's belly.

Leda remembers shards slicing
        open her back. The Swan burst through
the window, ground her into the rug.
        A thousand cuts & she still can't say

if pain or shock made her shriek.
        The way his neck slithered over her breast.
Now her daughter's a famous beauty.
        Helen's face everywhere—Oprah, Colbert.

All that luminous skin. How dare she burn
        like that, godfire in her face, her eyes.
Leda throws her shoe at the TV. A gorgeous
        stiletto with pink fuzz on the vamp. It bounces

off the screen & bites her chest. Like He did.
        His beak scarring her sternum. How sun rainbowed
the room. His body's glare, glass &
        white feathers, everywhere that terrible light.

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Copyright © 2022 Ellen Aronofsky Cole All rights reserved
from Gargoyle
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission