& then we saw the daughter of the Minotaur
written for Leonara Carrington’s painting
in the center
a minty petalled tissue
with a flower for a face
eyes! two
but small buddings
meet & grow
in a sculpted valley
above the nose
& under gill-like whiskers
a plum robe drapes
velveteen & obscures
its most intimate features
a thin & graceful wrist
reaches across the tilting
card table
towards the myriad
of mystic globoids
of all sizes
glued onto this angled
plane by a butterfly dusted
table cloth
everything looks dusted
by wings
nothing looks permanent, stable
two children
hungry
pale & hooded
perhaps they were
grim brothers
thought to have suffered
abandonment as
toddlers
one is four
with a pointed chin
& teeny grey dolls’
hands gripping
his chest
behind his back
his brother
has the same chin
but his mouth is closed
eyes wide & black
like a King’s dead-pennies
sparkling midnight
left-up & right-down
under a forest of
wild brown follicles
the flower face
listens
the bull being
leans his slight
fingers against
the long side
of the tilting table
as if to ask, is this real?
his own pupils are small
swimming amidst the white
under a perfect ‘u’ of two white horns
perfectly coiffed body fur
under a mandarin robe
he points his right hoof
with gentility
with the same good breeding
the jelly-headed tissue being
lays his right arm out
welcome!
no one sees her dancing down
the sand dusted corridor
the tree of life a pearly
cap sprouting from her
crowned head
right arm up
left arm bent
to mirror the arch in her right
foot’s pointe
the moon winks as
her spotlight shine
& clouds drape the ceilings
bringing a starry, starry
arborist grace,
like chandeliers
growing on the inside
melissa christine goodrum is the editor of four print anthologies and the author of two full-length poetry collections: definitions uprising (New York Quarterly Press) and something sweet & filled with blood (great weather for MEDIA). Her poetic experiences include being a guest editor for Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Workshop Leader for the Safe Return Project, Writing Teacher at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Administrative Director of Bowery Arts & Science. She was a recent Pushcart Nominee and the recipient of a Zora Neale Hurston Award from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University.
