Thank you to Mark Jones of Lothlorien Poetry Journal  for publishing my two poems today.

https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/11/two-poems-by-linda-imbler.html

The Bone Shop

 

Collectors lurch up a set of narrow, dark stairs.

Within their chests they feel a hot wave of desire,

to procure one or more of these vendibles.

 

There’s stark sensations skeletons feel without their former cover,

the body’s framework on display, 

now deposed from the seats of the wealthy only by death.

 

These were not the fallen,

nor the ignored.

 

These were those who walked grand halls

in affluent mansions,

ones once dressed in satin,

who strode carrying sapphire handbags,

and pearl handled walking sticks.

 

Enthusiasts can spend one whole evening sifting through skulls,

upon which sits the sweetness of vanity.

 

Shoppers can spend one whole evening

scrutinizing the singular beauty of various limbs,

to find the best rarities.

 

Some hobbyists prefer scrounging through 

the grouped league of broken parts in a bin,

considering the detailing of fatigue for the older bones.

 

All evaluating the incontestable beauty of the eggshell and alabaster surfaces,

hoping the ownership of at least one item

may bring a bit of luck toward accruing their own prosperity.

Andromeda

For me, my fate was always to get eaten,

A princess born in Ethiopia,

But Perseus and I were never beaten,

Despite the brag of Cassiopeia.

 

I, Greek, long ago set up to be victimized,

By the sea monster Cetus, whale-like beast,

My once chained maiden’s myth now crystalized,

My body, mind, and soul unleashed.