Poem for Saturday and Green Spring Flowers

Self-Portrait as Semiramis
By Mary-Kim Arnold

Had I been raised by doves
wouldn’t I have learned
to fly

By wolves
to hunt in packs

Had I been raised by gods
wouldn’t I too
be godlike

In the movies the orphan
is the killer
not loved enough
unwanted

But wasn’t I
most
wanted

My mother
fish goddess
dove into the sea
for the sin of loving
a mortal man

I love a mortal man too

At night I coax him
from sleep
rousing him
with my mouth

By day
we build high brick walls
around us
                   our Babylon

Had my mother lived
to see me rise from this boundless
deep
            would she recognize me
as I have grown large
and my arms have become
the long arms of the sea
reaching over
                         and over

                                            for the shore

-------- 

Friday was not nearly as warm a day as Thursday, but it was nice to walk and nice enough for lots of squirrels to visit. It was also Paul's father's birthday, so we talked to his parents on Skype in the afternoon. And it was otherwise an uneventful day until evening, when we had dinner with my parents. 

We just binged the last five episodes of Reacher, quite violent (in one case gratuitously, since a character showed up just so another character could get revenge on him) but pretty well-written women and decent relationships, so I enjoyed it. Outdoor flowers last weekend at Green Spring Gardens: