Atalanta

At first, fur and forest, an arrow in my bow

Not alone,

Bears were my Mothers, Fathers

Birds, my Sisters Brothers

Foxes, my Uncles Aunts

Badgers, my Cousins

Me, the Child, central.

but growing up brings change

I pushed away, to prove I was more

I came, I looked to conquer

I signed up to kill a boar

but Men, they laughed– “You?

go back to sewing skirts

baking pies and scrubbing dirt”

they groped and squeezed

it hurt. and they teased.

I realised then, that Men

couldn’t understand

a flash of silver in my wooden bow

and they fell.

I came, I conquered, I killed

My boar, My glory, I took it all.

they refused to see,

How could she? they asked

a woman cannot kill

they patted my shoulder

marriage, love, that’s all you can do

find a man, be his, I refuse.

too late to turn back

I ran and I ran and I ran

no man would catch Me

my Goddess by my side

I laughed. Ha-Ha-Ha!

an apple was my downfall

So they say, ‘Tis true

like a dog I was used-conformed

Love, cruel was she

Angered and Jealous

she sent a curse,

the boar, shot down

was Me.

I stopped running

those apples were mine–

I knelt and kissed their golden skins

licked their dripping juices

biting, stroking their cores

mourning their silent gaze

When I was interrupted

Caught, trapped

My race run. I lost