Chitra Ganesh, How to Assemble a Flying Car (detail), 2018, linocut on tan BFK Rives. Courtesy of the artist & Durham Press.
Lyre
Life had, the astrologer said,
but one curse: I could not
go mad.
When I heard the music
I cannot repeat
I was halfway home
five years into the voyage.
Their voices were honey
measure by measure
dropped on the small of my back.
I married the ropes
as well as the mast
my writhing as ranting
a plea as my shouts.
Today I recall not one word.
When I beached I made thanks.
I walked home to the face
without an adventure
to which I was wedded.
Mary Gilliland lives in Ithaca, New York, where she serves on the Board of Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, the Dalai Lama’s seat in North America. Recent and forthcoming poetry can be found in Chautauqua, Notre Dame Review, Passages North, Seneca Review, Stand, and AGNI Online. (updated 4/2009)