Sappho and Aphrodite

Girls hurt —

cracking open,

riding along

rafts of grief —

enraptured —

water inside water.

Time waits on —

for Eve’s daughters —

gossamer threads

catching souls

inside the fabric

of female persons

living and dying

in the crayon box.

Green flamingos fly

over endless acres

of wetlands history,

of Sappho writing

somatic imageries —

a few lost codes,

a beggar’s starlight,

a ballad’s silver flute —

lost, preempted lines.

Still, her peace reigns.

. . . . .

Poet: Susan Powers Bourne
Source: Women.Poets.Florida
Works by Kahn, Krum, Laino, Rader,
Mitchell, Person, and Rathburn
Process: Pick and mix cento