Melissa Severin (Chicago, USA): "Myth to Meteor"

MYTH TO METEOR

Gestated in the thigh, born twice, rose once

from the head of Zeus. I bit my way out,

through eight great plates, skull bones a catapult.

Indulge me, my heartstrings forged from harpsichords;

this is a myth I keep

rebuilding with dog’s teeth and concrete.

Solicit the backhoe,

dig timing with a slingshot.

Pick a solar system to sift. It’s not the same past

as my future; we’re making me a swarm of meteors,

a shield of shooting stars that want

electricity from another planet,

that distant arc of orbit, hung from scepters and spinning

all around. A profanation.

How can we come so close and not collide?