My Grendel~

Girl floated her canoe on a lake of marmalade glaze

belly, sunned gold

wild, evergreen eyes 

complementing bent pines, whispering her name

skin, white clay

and look! there!

Heron is trailing her canoe through the shallows

his blue tipped wing open to comfort a trembling butterfly on her taut shoulder

“This ain’t a good idea, girl.” trils Heron

his silver iris giving Odin a run for his recreated fragment

girl says nothing

strokes paddle against underwater stumps

pushing to the shore line

 

Owl turns his head around

idling between dreams of being a man in love with a crazy girl

and an ave who's biggest concern is to Hoo Hoo in rightly worship

at the M o o N

so we can see, he is circle of magnificent DNA

atomic bumps in particles in the space between his stillness on a branch

and a girl dragging a green canoe onto the bank

“Who.” Says the owl

girl tilts the heart of her face to the trees

a wicked little pull of a smile at the corner of  berry lips, asking

“How many licks to the center of a monster’s soul.”

laughter in cell division breaking through a primordial puddle at her feet

owl sighs his wings in a fluff of agitation

“You should know better than to ask this girl for any straight answer.”

Heron mumbles. sidestepping a snapping turtle peeking from its shell

 

Girl on knees in shallow sands of light

a line of deep concentration between her pearl brows

clawing earth out of the fluctuating spine of a ground that didn’t know tomorrow from yesterday

fingernails break off around a latched box of scrolled bones

her blood through the lock

a liquid  key in extraordinary pain

opening . . . .

 

Wolf gave himself shape from the mud

took the clouds across his bones

a distant star for his eyes

soft paws on sand

his muzzle lowered beneath girl’s chin to lift her face

eye to eye

“What are you doing, girl?”

his sorrow

her beating heart a knife

her hand on the lid

“Killing a world.” she smiles

she opens the box

 

Heron covered his silver eyes with wings

owl turned his head away

wolf felt the press of collision in the fabric of strings pulled taut

but does not turn away from his girl . . . .

 

Inside the box black velvet night

a swirl of constellations winding

unwinding

a single genetic factor

coalescing

a mask

her arms dip elbow deep

her own private gom jabbar

eating away her skin

flaying muscle into thin slivers

snapping sinews

melting bone

wolf braces her, his spine pressed into her belly

lest she fall, again

 

Girl became mobile stone;

from the box she pulls the Mask

with the green beryl eyes

opening . . . .

wolf moves aside

lays his body on the ground

supplicating

 

Girl traces a line of memories in every crack of the living Mask

with sheer fingertips made of stardust

pulling memories from every pore

~girl as monster falling through a man, jaws unhinged~

~predatory beauty filleting the center of a man with curved claws~

~woman swimming silk sheets with a dagger between her teeth to pause at a man’s throat~

~ecclesiastic beast on all fours of seduction with an arch as deadly as a charmed snake~

 

“Enough!” wolf interposes his head between her gaze and the mask

owl shivers on a branch

Heron, being, wisely, magik avoidant, contemplates stones in the water

girl smiles

lifts the Mask to her face

ties it with a ribbon of lace light at her overdeveloped occipital lobe

 

“Girl, why?” asks wolf

she strokes the underside of his chin

the Mask eating through her bones

solidifying pearls

riveting mythos

“Wolf, I don’t always have the answers.  I’m just another monster, doing the wrong things for all the right reasons.”

 

Girl floats her canoe on a blood lake

pearl dipped ruby eyes  bursting

under

her fingertips

stroking the surface

releasing juxtaposed morality

to swim like jeweled minnows down river. . . .

to the Alloy Forest

 

 

 copyright:vssmd/pa.inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

excerpt from

 

 

 

Reviews

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Selene,

You took me back to my youth.

Sometimes monsters have to look within their own soul and decide how they want to do their own lives. It's interesting you talk of a girl finding a mask to put over her face only to create herself anew. So telling...

Can you be a monster Selene? Can you be naughty like me?

Regards,

Matthew

[Robin]

a soulful twist on this classic tale , the indelible impressions of the scenery , your refuge , navigating those 'mystic' waters . The touch of the Heron , the questioning Owl and your Wolf , your beloved wolf . of girl and the monster of mythos . and that soul gaze as she opened that box and its contents - that living mask , as you detail and trace the pain along every curve and fissure . indeed you have fingertips of stardust and the knowing - that it is more important to understand the questions than know the answers ...

[ScaryTrees]

a big slice of awesome served up here my femme fatale
i think it takes 3 licks...
also love the gom jabbar reference...sweet
i could read this one many times and glean more upon the repetition

consider it shelved

[Jūdan FyreHeart]

Wow.. You really packed it into this beautiful tale. So much sorrow, acceptance and the poor wolf. Understanding what you truly are and placing the burden upon your shoulders regardless.

[OT]

such a "wow" poem - the descriptions, and more the voice and flow of it - the story like nature expertly told as only you can through poetry - it was so complete - you tied up everything almost yet left enough for us to wonder and ponder bits and bobs - so, so many favourite lines but I won't just regurgitate the poem lol loved the wolf from mud bit and the box! ahh too good, too good!

[Molly]

How clever! I really, really like this one, although it made my head spin in places. I love the line “How many licks to the center of a monster’s soul.” I wish I could write like this. You completely turned the concept from John Gardner's Grendel and made it personal. What's more, you managed to make it personal but universal at the same time. I think I'll go have an existential breakdown now!

[Michael of Gilead]

Wow, absolutely wonderful....even without the title it has that celtic mythological feel to me

[Crow]

Beautiful imagery!

[Emily B]

I thought I loved this line best

“You should know better than to ask this girl for any straight answer.”

but that was only til I got here:

“Wolf, I don’t always have the answers. I’m just another monster, doing the wrong things for all the right reasons.”

wow!

[ryderflyte]

amazing.