Persona Poems
Apple persona does its best work
through the acts of gods:
to Paris went Helen when he gave
Aphrodite the golden apple marked
for "the fairest and most beautiful;"
to Hercules went immortality when
he slew the dragon of 100 heads
guarding the apples of the nymphs’ garden;
and to Adam and Eve went guilt when
the serpent persuaded them to
take and eat the fruit of god’s forbidden tree.
Love, war, immortality, and guilt—
Oh, spirit of the apple, do your work on me.
--
Persona who comes to visit has no invitation--
sleeps until noon and never makes the bed—
raids the refrigerator then drinks all the booze—
ignores hints to leave, and after four days,
begins to smell of fish.
--
Orange persona gets pissed
at every college professor who sends
his freshmen off to write stupid essays
about rotting oranges.
--
A Taoist persona inhabits this house
– just look around –
ten thousand things all strewn about.
--
Glacier persona erodes the spirit by
gouging – scraping – and scouring
its victims – then leaves them as a
heap of terminal moraine.
--
Black hole persona grows fat
sucking the guilt of unspeakable acts
into it wide – swirling mouth.
--
Hypochondriac persona proudly wears
its latest ailment like
a colored ribbon on
a military uniform
--
Radiation persona explodes and
descends through space to enter the body
– changes the chemical structure of cells
– slowly replaces the soul with its own black ghost
--
Lettuce persona carries the cry of
dying Mexicans in every head
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