Malak Mattar, Untitled (detail), 2024, charcoal on paper
The Old Mother Goddess
The old mother goddess has hair on her chin. Do you mind? The old man blushes, he doesn’t know the answer. I said, says the old mother goddess, do you mind if I become a man? Oh that!—No, he doesn’t mind; she can have his pl Then Mind? Mind if I become a man . . . ?_
_ Oh that! No no, not at all.
The old man puts his razor on her altar.
Russell Edson has books with Harper and Row, Wesleyan, and New Directions. (updated 1974)