[Mary Meriam]

The Disappearance of Deities
The gods were companions. They would come in the window or accompany you in the fields.
—John Riley

Goddesses clear from corpses in the field,
the hunted deer discarded, cruelly shot.
I lost my company, I lost my shield.
Mad gods made of my broken limbs are not
companions. This is far from Ancient Greece.
No gods knock on the window bearing peace.
Blackberry lilies open on green stalks.
High in the air, I see black birds in flocks.
No forests, mountains, naked to the eye
show gods or goddesses of any sort.
I move these words to reproduce support
that’s gone. If only I could make the sky
and earth alive as goddesses, the end
averted, blue-tailed skink a god-like friend.


~~~
L1 was: Goddesses escaped