by Phyllis Kriegel
Old Sarah laughed
Foretasting pleasure
When patriarch Abraham—
The old clothes dealer—
Would get her with child.
When Hades raped Demeter’s
Slender-ankled daughter Persephone
(Who ate a blood-red pomegranate seed)
The mother’s grief and anger
Turned the world deadly dark.
Then Baubo, goddess of bawdy,
Told a ribald story and gleefully
Showed her pudenda,
Demeter laughed and the whole earth
Grew heavy with green leaves and flowers.
Phyllis Kriegel:
Dallied with Dante
Played at Proust
Cuddled with Kafka
Then it hit me:
Stories happen
to those
Who write them.