a modern mythos

poetry CELINA ZHOU

i. mapping knossos tell me how we go on in the dark listless, stringless, dancing with an echo the world a tapestry, unraveled and tangling at our feet.

sing me a hymn for daylight tell me stories of snow on the sea white glitter reflections, a mirror of sun these tears of the gods, buried and remade lie to me, unremorseful: promise me we’ll see it again someday.

ii. archer moon love, call yourself greed and be proud of it / take a peach and devour it / let your lips stain with nectar / let your teeth scrape against the pit / the ragged grind echoing through your throat // oh fallen god, remember divinity / a cloud of ivory dreams; a river of jade in your veins // remember the stars / white light on ink, bleeding open the sky // remember you are not a demon / you are a god / remember there is no difference but the shape of the word on your tongue // remember betrayal and lovesickness are one and the same // breathe open song and storm / your throat scraped bitter, raw and rosy // your love is fragile and worn / a gilded thing left brittle and moon white / don’t you think it’s time to let it break? iii. prayer for titania there is nothing golden left in me, plucked and swallowed by hungry gods I am gilded; ruination scraped bare. let me weep at your feet, my body a tithe –take me, love me, break me, hollow me out into devotion and an ache for a scrap of your light and pride. drown me in larkspur, ribbons of silk and vine, and plastic thorns to crown me devour my name, the syllables sweet until it, and I, are yours, too.