I am that phantasm you dare
dream
the hope that lies hidden
within
springing forth and renewed
unsighted and benighted
under the cloak of reality
where id lays
submerged
beneath ego's blind
dominance
suppressed and repressed
I am the chimera in this
illusion
where you can dare
to be

Inverted with introspection
Seduction and beyond deduction
I bask under a waning light
Daughter of Earth, Moon and Ocean
It is my kind
Who beckoned to
Odyysseus, Euphemus and Thetis
Existing as myth Vaguely hinted at
Like the Sirens,
Charybdis, Scylla
Secretly envisioned
Never ever seen
Until much too late
Fantastic fantasy, fairy tale
Yes,
More than a sailor’s drowning dream
I am death's
Watery kiss

She was a mystical reincarnate
who lived off the Cymric berserkers
a witch woman who silenced kings and warriors
with her prognostication.
Rhiannon, daughter of Aerten
burdened or cursed with
aye, the bloody gift
with every portent, every foretelling
she captured those
infected with the sin
of greed and avarice
the common man feared her
cattle to be sacrificed for Cambrian glory
kings and nobles wooed her
seeking the power over the axe
yet
she dwelled alone, feared and unloved
in her castle off Glyndyfrdwy
on the banks of the River Dee
behind those glacial blood cemented boulders
where not even the warmth of family and love
could heat those fortified forbidding walls
Rhiannon, daughter of Aerten
died alone
in her castle off Glyndyfrdwy
on the banks of the River Dee
cursed by the women and children
left widowed and fatherless
by the kings and nobles
who heeded the call of glory
and the axe

Mother of mothers
Hand of god
Eye of Ra
Lady of the Milky Way
known by many names.
I have danced naked before Ra
taming that savage breast
daughter/wife of his tears.
I was the nelumbium speciosum,
the sacred lotus flower
spawning the royal cobra
heaven's illuminated serpent
ushering in celestial and human birth
mothered bright Sirius,
as he rose in the midnight sky
and nurtured Pleiades, his seven sisters.
I have loved and hated
with a goddess's passion
and when my time came
in turn, was subsumed
by Isis
another death and rebirth
in the Sacred Serpent Circle

I am that phantasma you dare
dream
the hope that lies hidden
within
springing forth and renewed
unsighted and benighted
under the cloak of reality
where id lays
submerged
beneath ego's blind
dominance
suspressed and repressed
I am the chimera in this
illusion
where you can dare
to be

Enchanting ethereal Selene,
I have lain
resting under your blessed light
silently chanting all your names
every incarnation
imprinted in my sacred cells
after the heat of the day
Mawu, watched as you chase hellish Helios
to a fiery pyre,
whispered your name
secretly, silently under my breath,
as I danced your murderous history and glory
warrior, fighter, Coyolxauhqui
immortal Heng-O
witnessed your vengeance,
not even an emperors son’s
could flee
I have worshipped you from the dawn
of time,
enticed by bountiful harvest, Nikkal
gratefully plucked your gifts
of fruit and fruited bodies
I have gazed
as you sailed
regally across the star marked midnight sky
your contours, hills and vales on your façade
captivated scholars, astronomers,
and mystics
lovely Artemis

Women across the lands
and time
daughter to daughter
beholden and betrothed
by eternal moonlight essence
we are eternally blessed
by your goddess touch
immortalized by monthly blood oaths
binding nubile female flesh
less we forget

standing on the edge
gaze blinded by the glare
and my tears
love, I see you not

did you hear Xuxulu* song
did you heed her deadly invitation?

flashes of color diffuse thru the waves
fronds of seaweed and kelp
dance and entice under a beautiful watery veneer
venturing closer to the edge
my heart aches
i fear you have sought a song
more lyrical and seductive
than mine

According to the myth, Xuxulu was a water-dwelling spirit who gained prevalecence over pools and fountains when Iemanjá (deity of seas) and Oxum (deity of rivers) exiled her from the Orixá community due to her popularity among young men and boys. When her followers could not find her at her usual rest place near the shore of a river, Xuxulu's playful voice guided them down to a small fountain where she was singing

tis true
the quickest path to a destination
or desires
is a straight line
yet
I am undone by your boxed congregated corners
my fingers
braceleted by curiosity and caution circuitously
trace your geometric convergences
and angles
to arrive keyed up
and breathless
magically
before your locked portals
you tempt me
with your neatly apportioned
mysteries
but knowing
I am no inquistive Hera nor brave Hippolyte
no beauteous Psyche or foolish Pandora
regretfully
with a lingering look
walk away
leaving you intact
and tethered to your shaped secrets
and my hungry desires

 

 

skin delicate and parchment thin
she lays seemingly quiescent and fragile
upon her pastel bed
of washed-out out pinks, mint, and mauve
with a sigh, she raises her hand
outstretched in a silent plea
lashes fluttering theatrically
demurely
against this backdrop of artifice
a subdued beauty
i am mindful of a snake
that basks in the sun until disturbed
by the unwary
she is as weak as a cobra
my hypnotic Siren

it is the stilled things

the pregnant expectant silences

that assassinates

The Sirens were giant, winged creatures with the heads of women. They lived on rocks on the sea, where their beautiful singing lured sailors to shipwreck. Odysseus filled his sailors' ears with wax so that they might sail safely past the Sirens.

 

i have lain bohemian

in fields of flowers

a dreamer, dreaming of

elfin pixies bestowing star dusted wishes

of jinn like immature hands rubbing magic lamps

while dancing as a gracefully gowned fair lady

and composing magnificent fierce music to transport the soul

yes, i too was a dreamer

who once held the innocent promise of tomorrow in her grasp

until fear, ridicule

or growing up

caused me to abandon them

my dreams became misbegotten bastard children

 

fleeing that white bitch goddess

Europa*

you sought santuary and redemption

amidst my fragrant lush shores

I, Pele*

offered rebirth

I, Pele

offered a parasidical home

but liars and thieves

never change

generations of stealing

had been branded in your genes

secreted

in your mother's milk

lessons learned

at your father's knees

indocrinated as sacred truth

in your holy buildings

thus

blinded by hubris

and bigotry

you continued to engage

in your gentile depradations

while professing

to civilize the savages

 

with your coin

you brought death and slavery

confusing love with whoredom

offering syphillic seductions

your greed marked with avarice

your sailors, an ignorant smelly horde

consumed with rapine and alcohol

as your viewed and ravaged

the wealth of these islands

the theft santified

by your christian god

and that white bitch,

Europa

in the end

my home, my land, my people

rich prizes beyond measure

were sacrificed on the altar

of your superior western

sensibilities

my daughter Liliuokalani*

dethroned

another people

marginalized

we never sought to be

another

white man's burden

all over again

Notes:



1. Europa - Europa was one of the god Zeus's many love interests in Greek mythology

2. Pele - Described as "She-Who-Shapes-The-Sacred-Land" in ancient Hawaiian chants, the volcano goddess, Pele, was passionate, volatile, and capricious. In modern times, Pele has become the most visible of all the old gods and goddesses. Dwelling in the craters of the Big Island's Kilauea Volcano, she has been sending ribbons of fiery lava down the mountainside and adding new land around the southeastern shore almost continuously since 1983.

3. Liliuokalani- the United States-backed overthrow of Hawaii's last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, an event lamented as a dark page in American history.

4. White man's burden - In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled The White Mans Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands. In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the burden of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. The racialized notion of the White Man's burden' became a euphemism for imperialism, and many anti-imperialists couched their opposition in reaction to the phrase.