National Poetry Month: Le Poème #27

Is she posting in real time? Yes, dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you. A poem for the actual day. Stranger things have happened.

I wrote this yesterday. Yay to moments of inspiration while waiting for a cardio class to begin. I should tell you that I’m a big fan of allegory. In artwork, in writing, etc. Regarding poetry, I’d gotten away from allegory when my poems became more of a confessional art form. It was my chance to just be raw and open without using literacy devices. But sometimes the muse misses the past. So here’s today’s poem, which employs my tried and true allegorical vehicle: Greek mythology. 

Athena’s Lament

The exit from a man’s head 
is no guarantee that I have free
entrance into a man’s heart.
You see my armor, balk at
my aegis, confusing my 
breastplate for the Gorgon itself.
And no, it’s not the loveliest thing 
in the world to see–Medusa was 
no beauty queen–but why aren’t 
you looking at me?
(Instead of my armor?)
There are times when I wish
this wisdom was transferable,
so that you could see that wars 
are about battlegrounds and not
about us…
I wouldn’t fight you, my dear, 
for the ability to think doesn’t make
me your enemy. 
If anything, I also like crafts.
Does that bother you, too?
(I doubt it.)
My house on the hill can crumble 
in ruins for all I care, we don’t need it,
we can get a condo somewhere–
just stop forcing yourself to push 
me away.
For by now, you must know
you must,
that I am strong enough to 
stop you from leaving. 
So make it easy.
Stay.