Chitra Ganesh, To Assemble a Flying Car (detail), 2018, linocut on tan BFK Rives. Courtesy of the artist & Durham Press.
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)