Shadow Ball: New and Selected Poems

Goddess

121 Goddess Did she fall from the sky, a meteor miraculously spared by Earth’s insipid atmosphere? Did she rise from the sea: coincidence of elements and ancient lightning? They say film studios attract her. They are, as usual, wrong; studios spring up at her feet. I met a goddess on an airplane. She was reading Travel World, and kept us all from plummeting out of the sky. A man married a goddess. Each morning he bathed in chalk dust, and could not say why. A woman lay in wait to kill a goddess; but her .45 shot out a roseand -hyacinth bouquet. In Beverly Hills, CA, the average person spots a goddess once a week. In Humptulips, Washington, it happens once a lifetime, and she’s leaving. Men see a goddess, then go home and beat their wives; women see one, and claw at their own eyes. A plastic surgeon makes a false goddess. Only her baby isn’t fooled. The getaway car broadsides a minivan. A mother’s skull is crushed. Her children scream as two big cops throw up. No goddess can be found. 122 Monks in robes the color of dried blood curse the goddess, hurling communion wafers soaked in holy water at “foul sins“ they see “swooping like bats around her in the throbbing air.“ Watching us watch her, our leaders quail. “Back to your TVs, your MasterCards and demolition derbies,“ they scream as their accomplishments shrivel in our stare. Slice off your knees; the goddess wearies of your homage. Chop off your arms; she tires of your embrace. Pull out your tongue; she sickens from your lies. In case of air raid, the goddess yowls like a siren. In case of fire, she clangs like a bell. In case of earthquake, she stands where everyone can see her jiggling. When a goddess dies, her memory is a sun suspended on a chain of gold. When a goddess runs off with another man, she leaves a black hole just the size to swallow you. ...